Representative Delia Ramirez (D-IL) has introduced the “Tenants’ Right to Organize Act” (H.R.5827) in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would protect the organizing rights of tenants with Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) and tenants living in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties. Currently, only public housing tenants have a legally recognized right to organize. In extending the right to organize to HCV and LIHTC tenants, the bill recognizes that all tenants have the right to decent, safe, stable, and sanitary housing. NLIHC is proud to join other tenant-led organizations in endorsing the bill.
If enacted, the Tenants’ Right to Organize Act would establish organizing protections for tenants with Housing Choice Vouchers and tenants living in LIHTC properties and provide funding for such organizing activities, ensuring that all tenants benefitting from federally subsidized housing assistance are empowered in their right to organize. The bill names several organizing activities that would be protected, including distributing leaflets, conducting door-to-door surveys, posting information on bulletin boards, participating in tenant organization meetings, and other reasonable activities. Unique in this years’ legislation, the bill recognizes that all members of a household, not solely the head of household, have organizing protections. This recognition is meant to ensure that mixed-status families, including immigrant households, are protected.
“The undeniable imbalance of power between renters and landlords puts renters at greater risk of harassment, unjust eviction, and in the worst cases, homelessness,” said Diane Yentel, president and CEO of NLIHC in a press release. “Correcting this imbalance is crucial to building just, equitable communities where everyone can thrive. I applaud Representative Ramirez for introducing the Tenants’ Right to Organize Act to ensure all renters in federally assisted homes have the right to make their voices heard through collective action, without fear of retaliation.”
NLIHC worked with Representative Ramirez’s office to amend the legislation since the last session of Congress, when former Representative Andy Levin (D-MI) introduced the bill (see Memo 1/9). NLIHC supports the bill and will continue to work with champions of tenant protections in Congress to push for enactment.
Read Representative Ramirez’s press release at: https://tinyurl.com/yvf5fms6
Read a one-pager on the bill at: https://tinyurl.com/yckh3h74
Read the bill text and see a list of cosponsors at: https://tinyurl.com/4t656tcu