Grassroots Housing Organizing by the Cambridge Eviction Free Zone

By Steve Meacham, October 1999
Submitted to EFZ Steering Committee. Not yet discussed or approved.

Grass Roots Housing Organizing by the Cambridge Eviction Free Zone October, 1999
There is growing attention by the media and by policy-makers to what is almost universally described as "the crisis" of affordable housing. The growing gap between the rich and everyone else, a super hot housing market, the end of rent control and the loss of HUD buildings combine to make it so.

It's good that this is recognized. But where is the response? Where is the dramatic spending and/or regulation necessary to respond to the crisis effectively? It isn't there.

Indeed, media attention seems to portray housing as a problem that we just can't seem to save. The Boston Herald did a two-day feature on housing in August. They compared 1991 to the present and noted how much worse the housing problem is; yet they failed to note the end of rent control and the deregulation of HUD buildings as events which happened in between. Therefore, they don't even consider regulation as a response.

It isn't the purpose, however, of this short piece to blast policy-makers or the media, despite how they richly deserve it. Here, we want to look at the state of our movement.

The EFZ believes that there will be no effective response to the housing crisis without a revitalized and active movement of affected tenants, and that means particularly low and moderate income, working class tenants of all nationalities. Further, this movement must exist in many cities and towns around the Commonwealth. This is surely the only way to overcome Question 9 and to get back some form of rent and eviction protection which we so desperately need.

Towards this end, the EFZ has begun a dialogue with groups and organizers in other cities and towns. We hope this dialogue will help support grass roots organizing where it exists and help form it where it doesn't.

In this piece, we hope to summarize our own methods of housing organizing. Our methods are not unique; other groups use them. They aren't complete; other people do things we don't. But by summarizing our methods we can contribute to the dialogue.

Some Principles of Our Organizing

We need to organize, not just provide advocacy and service

Many organizations do some variation of tenant services. Folks with housing problems or questions call in to find our their legal rights. This is important work; but it isn't enough. Those affected by the housing crisis should be developing strategy themselves to address their concerns and change policy.

Housing justice is a moral question. Profiteering off homes is wrong.

Housing must be a political and moral question, not just a legal one. The law favors large owners. The law says it's legal to respond to a hot housing market by doubling rents. Advocates who don't also organize tend to push victims into negotiating around how long they will take to move, not demanding to stay. We must organize people around what's right, not what the law says. This is not rhetoric. By organizing around what's right, our experience is always that we win more. Most large owners are surprised by resistance. They sometimes believe that whatever the market allows is moral. And they have a large stake in preserving this cultural value. Our organizing must get beyond it. The fair rent is usually not the market rent. Our organizing must say so directly.

The housing crisis is a class question, not just a tenant question

In our organizing, the EFZ tries to make very clear that we are organizing on behalf of low and moderate income, working class people to defend our homes. We are organizing against large, wealthy real estate interests who are making extraordinary profits at our expense.

All tenant problems are not the same. The students who have a question about how to get out of their lease with a small owner deserves to know their legal rights. But we don't organize around their case. We don't publicize it. We organize around cases and buildings that show the class inequities of housing.

We focus on the profits, not just the victims

Much of the discussion of the housing crisis, or of gentrification, expresses sympathy for the victims, or laments the loss of community. But organizing must go further. Organizing should expose who is benefiting from the displacement going on around us. Such efforts open up a mind-boggling world of real estate profit. When we shine light on a sickening level of greed and disregard for fellow human beings, we win support for the new housing policies we need. We shouldn't just be sad about what's happening, we should be angry at those who bring it about.

People need social support, not just legal representation

It's hard to fight around your home. It's supposed to be a place of refuge from the struggles of life. Our culture offers little support for tenants, rights to stay in their homes, even their homes of 30, 40, or 50 years. That's why most evictions are silent. Thousands have been forced out of Cambridge without going to eviction court. To resist, even to use what few legal rights we have, requires social support. That, in turn means organizing.

Organizing must be consciously multi-cultural and multi-lingual

Like most cities in the Commonwealth, Cambridge is a diverse place. All organizers will hear things like, "Our building has too many immigrants; they don't understand their rights and won't organize." Our experience is that our most dramatic victories have come in buildings which are largely immigrant, multi-lingual immigrant at that. Organizing - meetings and literature - must be translated. Committees should be formed which operate primarily in languages other than English.

Housing organizing can't simply look at housing

Even organizations which focus on housing justice will do their work better if other issues are addressed. It's impossible to organize immigrant tenants, for instance, around housing issues if the organizers don't resolutely stand for immigrant rights and the full equality of nationalities. The EFZ campaign for local voting rights for non-citizens, for instance, strengthens our housing organizing.

Some Methods of Our Organizing

EFZ housing organizing combines several features:

• individual building organizing, forming tenant associations
• combining individual cases into mass meetings for mutual support
• public advocacy letters which alert the community leaders about cases
• broadly distributed eviction alerts and publicity when tenants face displacement
• frequent public protests in front of owners' homes or offices, or in public squares
• frequent appearances at City Council to publicize new problems
• support finding attorneys; support on the day of court, so people don't feel alone
• attaching this work to advocacy for new public policy

Individual building organizing

EFZ organizers have attended over 100, probably closer to 200, building meetings in the last 5 years. Some of these efforts falter and no tenant association develops; those "failed" efforts nevertheless sometimes yield individual cases around which we organize. In other buildings, remarkable solidarity develops and important victories are won. In 59 Norfolk St., 8 families (Latino, Portuguese, Haitian, African American, and white) resisted rent increases; they held almost weekly meetings, protested their landlord, and attended court cases over a year period before their building was finally sold to a non-profit.

At 580 Mass. Ave., two waves of organizing among all-immigrant tenants resulted in two rent strikes', each winning significant repairs and awards totaling 15 months rent. Many other tenants associations forced reluctant owners into collective bargaining, or forced them to back off of planned rent increases and evictions.

All successful efforts were public, usually very public. In 1997, a Caravan for Housing Justice toured the suburbs with 75 protesters, visiting the homes of landlords in battles with tenants associations. The buildings we organize are not huge.

Tenant associations generally exist during crises and fall into inactivity otherwise. But leaders from those associations become activists in helping other buildings.

Combining individual cases into campaigns

One of the scariest things about dealing with threats to your homes is feeling isolated. When the EFZ organized the Campaign to Save 2000 homes in the summer of 1996, we began weekly meetings of low- and moderate-income tenants with housing problems. Legal rights were explained, but more important, the sense of solidarity in the room was vital in helping people use those rights. These meetings have attracted between 15 and 35 people on a weekly or bi-weekly basis for over 3 years! From these meetings, the EFZ plans and organizes its quarterly rallies and actions. Many individuals whose own problems are solved in this way remain active and help others.

Public advocacy letters

An important first step in building mass support for individual cases and moving beyond a. legal response is what we call the "campaign letter." This is a resolutely polite letter of support for an individual tenant to the owner. It cites how long the tenant has lived there and other compelling facts about the tenant's family. It cites what we know of the profits being made by the owner. It asks the owner to reconsider his/her eviction or rent increase and to be and to strike a balance between profit and human need.
These letters are publicly "cc'd" (copies sent) to religious, community, and political leaders around the city. The owner is thus notified that a moral question has been posed in a polite, but public way. These letters sometimes lead to negotiated -solutions by themselves.

Broadly distributed eviction alerts and public actions

When early negotiations and the campaign letter don't bring a solution, tenants may face court action. In this case, we distribute "eviction alerts" -which urge those in receipt to call or write the owner to demand that they back off. These are sent to supporting organizations and churches as well as to many individuals.

Public protests

When tenants face eviction, the EFZ may plan a picket in front of the owner's office or home. These are held frequently on fairly short notice. The support built up over time of tenants whose own cases have been addressed allows this rapid response. If appropriate, we will appear on the day of eviction.

Larger protests are planned on a quarterly basis, usually around different themes. Some examples include:

• An annual "don't get scrooged" march in December, protesting real estate greed.
• A Caravan for Housing Justice protesting 6 landlords in the suburbs.
• A "Quarters for Living Quarters" rally which took over parking spaces near City Hall, since our cars were becoming the only affordable housing. We solicited quarters for the meters.
• A tent-in takeover of the front lawn of City Hall.
• In September, 1999, a "ten most unwanted landlords" rally, featuring the Landlord Wall of Shame.
• A rally in front of a giant mural depicting Cambridge diversity which the artist rededicated to affordable housing.

And many more. These rallies also provide opportunities for many people who have felt like victims to step forward and speak up, sometimes for the first time in public. The sense of leadership and empowerment which result are powerful indeed.

Visits to City Council

We will often take cases we are supporting to City Council meetings, usually every month or two. We use these meetings to publicize what's happening and often ask for resolutions from the Council to the owner urging negotiations rather than eviction. All the cases we bring so clearly contrast real estate greed with the housing needs of ordinary people; we usually get those resolutions, often unanimously. Formerly anti-rent control councilors vote for them as well. Visits to Council meetings also give a chance for new people to speak about their own cases and the housing crisis. All the new speakers prevent this tactic from becoming too stale.

Finding legal support and attending court

We secure good legal representation through legal services or private attorneys. Where possible, we try to get an attorney to represent the tenant association as a whole, rather than individuals.
In early 1997, we held a series of "concerts for housing justice" which raised $7,000 for legal fees from local clubs. Many of the participating bands, representing all kinds of music, had themselves faced housing trouble and were eager to join in.
EFZ members also accompany tenants to court to show strong public support. This makes sure that judges attach proper weight to the proceedings. It adds support to tenants who are negotiating in the halls and prevents mistakes, such as terrible "agreements for judgment" which tenants are sometimes intimidated into signing. Such unsung solidarity work greatly reduces the tension of an experience everyone fears - eviction court.

Advocacy for new public policy

Over time, the EFZ has developed a comprehensive public policy agenda around housing. It is available on attached sheets. The important thing to stress here is that all the organizing above gives a human face to the housing policy debate.

The City Council has continued to make affordable housing its number one priority in annual retreats. This in turn makes new policy more possible. We are convinced this has happened because of our non-stop organizing.

Some policy issues we pursue will in turn aid in the organizing. We have succeeded in winning a $4.5-5 million per year tax contribution to the affordable housing trust fund. This fund is used primarily to get buildings and units into "social ownership" - public, non-profit, or limited equit3,. The possibility of this solution in turn encourages tenants to organize to demand it for their building.