• Source: Kansas City Tenants Union

The Kansas City Tenants Union, also known as KC Tenants, is a non-profit tenant's union in Kansas City, Missouri. It was founded in 2019 by Tiana Caldwell and Tara Raghuveer.




History


KC Tenants was founded with an annual budget of $30,000, which has grown to almost $600,000 in June 2023. The union has worked together with Mayor Quinton Lucas on housing policy, notably passing a tenant's bill of rights in 2019 that included banning "discrimination against prospective tenants solely because of a prior arrest, conviction or eviction." KC Tenants has clashed with landlords and the courts over specific eviction cases and the COVID eviction moratorium. The group has a tenants' hotline and an incident report form for renters experiencing housing issues or who have questions about renters' rights.
The organization pressured the city into passing a tenants right to counsel policy, which provides free legal counseling for renters facing eviction filings. In January 2024, Kansas City City Council passed a source of income discrimination ban advocated by KC Tenants. The group also advocates for a "People's Housing Trust Fund" to build affordable housing, originally to be funded through reducing the Kansas City police department budget.
The Kansas City Homeless Union formed in January 2021 with support from KC Tenants. The two groups have demonstrated together for housing policy reform.




= KC Tenants Power

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KC Tenants launched its political wing in October 2022 named KC Tenants Power.
In June 2023, candidates endorsed by KC Tenants Power won four out of the thirteen Kansas City city council commissioner seats, losing two races.




= Founding of Tenant Union Federation

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In August 2024, KC Tenants, Connecticut Tenant Union, Louisville Tenant Union, Bozeman Tenants United, and Not Me We founded the Tenant Union Federation. The federation describes its goals as: "use the collective power of its locals to negotiate better living conditions for renters, slow the commodification of housing, help establish alternatives to the predominant market-based solution to housing, guarantee housing as a public utility, and create economic and political power for its renters." The federation's first campaign hopes to cap rent on housing managed by the federal government.




= Rent strikes

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On Friday, September 27, 2024, KC Tenants announced rent strikes at Independence Towers and Quality Hill Towers beginning October 1. Union members demanded collectively bargained lease agreements, new ownership of the apartment complexes, and a federal rent cap. The strikes focused on the properties' landlords, as well as the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) and Fannie Mae. Tenants were expected to withhold $60,000 of rent in the first month of the strike between the two complexes. As of October 1, 65% of Independence Towers residents had joined the rent strike. Kansas City congressman Emmanuel Cleaver said in September 2024 he would support a rent strike at Independence Towers.




See also


Affordable housing
Housing in the United States
Homelessness
Tenants union




References

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• Kansas City Tenants Union
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• Tenant Union Federation
• Kansas City, Missouri
• University of Missouri–Kansas City
• Bozeman Tenants United
• Arizona Tenants Advocates
• Tenant right to counsel
• Downtown Kansas City