Renter Nation Assemblies Kick Off in New York and Springfield

May 9th, Arise for Social Justice in Springfield, MA held the first of over 15 Renter Nation Assemblies scheduled to take place around the country this year. The Assemblies are part of Right to the City’s Homes For All Campaign, a national movement to increase awareness of the housing crisis and implement resident-driven solutions to the massive displacement and housing instability the crisis has imposed.

Right To The City
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SPRINGFIELD ASSEMBLY

Over 150 visionary community members converged to decide on a common platform to fight for tenants in Springfield.

One pressing issue for Springfield tenants is health standards in buildings. “Springfield has one of the highest asthma rates in the state” according to Dr. Matthew Sadof, chair of the Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition, and coordinator of this project. “Our efforts to help children with asthma are hindered when there are underlying conditions in their homes that exacerbate their asthma—conditions like mold, due to leaks and faulty ventilation.

Healthy Homes' interventions have been shown to reduce asthma attacks and improve health outcomes.”The Springfield Healthy Homes Collaborative's activities will include Healthy Homes training for health care, housing and other providers; housing forums to gather information on community concerns about housing and educate residents about Healthy Housing principles as well as development of a new coordinated referral system for concerns related to housing and health.

Willie Baptist  was the keynote speaker.  Baptist is a formerly homeless father and veteran of the Watts uprisings, the Black Student Movement, and the labor movement (United Steelworkers).  He has 40 years of experience organizing amongst the poor and is a current board member of Picture the Homeless.  “Willie came to Arise four or five times in the year preceding the formation of Sanctuary City in 2004, our tent city for the homeless,” says Christina Densmore, a formerly homeless Arise board member and one of the founders of Sanctuary City.  “He was so inspiring that when a shelter closed and we had nowhere to go, we had the courage to organize a tent city on our behalf.”

NYC RENTERS' ASSEMBLY MAY 23RD

The NYC Renter Assembly is a gathering of students and other impacted residents, along with housing justice organizations seeking to build new alliances, catalyze momentum to fight gentrification and support the fight to save and strengthen NYC rent laws.  This dynamic  collaboration between Right To The City Alliance, the students of the Department of Urban Ecologies at Parsons-the New School, Met Council on Housing and the Cooper Square Committee is providing a space for reflection and action (aka “reflaction”) for NYC students - and renters at large - to learn about the history of racist housing policies, the role of policing in displacement, the university as gentrifier and the policy agenda of housing advocates to increase affordability and stability for working class New Yorkers.

To see what local tenant groups are fighting for, see the policy platform of the Real Rent Reform Coalition and the Alliance for Tenant Power.

In 2015, Right to the City’s Homes For All campaign is supporting 15 cities/regions to hold Renter Nation Assemblies to galvanize impacted residents and allies to win anti-displacement and affordability campaigns.  Renter Nation Assemblies strategically link our local fights across the country to replicate wins, gather momentum and build a genuine tenants’ movement for affordable, community controlled homes.  The assemblies will bring together renters, low-wage workers, seniors, immigrants, youth, LGBTQ, union members, formerly incarcerated folks and others who do not have affordable homes.

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