This article is a list of active tenant unions in the United States of America.
Active tenant unions The list does not include union locals of tenant unions. The list also does not include broader tenant advocacy organizations
Arizona
Tucson Tenants Union Valley Tenants Union
California
Los Angeles Tenants Union Lennox-Inglewood Tenants Union Compton Tenants Union Burbank Tenants Union Glendale Tenants Union Long Beach Tenants Union Pasadena Tenants Union Tenants United Santa Ana San Diego Tenants United San Francisco Tenants Union
Connecticut
Cargill Tenants Union Connecticut Tenants Union
Illinois
Autonomous Tenants Union Northside Tenants Union North Spauling Renters' Association Southside Together Tenants United Chicago
Kansas
Lawrence Tenants Renters Together Manhattan Kansas
Kentucky
Lexington Tenants Union Louisville Tenant Union
Massachusetts
Greater Boston Tenants Union Worcester Tenants Union
Michigan
Ann Arbor Tenants Union Lansing Tenants Union Grand Rapids Area Tenants Union Greater Kalamazoo Renters' Union
Missouri
Kansas City Tenants Union
Montana
Bozeman Tenants United
New York
Crown Heights Tenant Union Brooklyn Eviction Defense Tenant Union Ridgewood Tenants Union
Nebraska
Omaha Tenants United
North Carolina
North Carolina Tenants Union
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Tenants Union
Oregon
Portland Tenants United Don't Evict PDX Housing and Neighborhood Defense
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Tenants Union
Rhode Island
Providence Organization of Workers and Renters
South Dakota
West River Tenants United
Texas
Houston Tenants Union Tenants Union San Antonio Bowie Tenants Union (Austin)
Virginia
Richmond Tenants Union
West Virginia
Huntington Tenants' Union
Washington
Tenants Union of Washington State
Wisconsin
Madison Tenant Power Milwaukee Autonomous Tenants Union
Legal protection
In a 2018 survey of state law, two states and D.C. were found to have substantial protections for tenant unions and tenant union organizing (Category 1 states listed below); twenty-nine other states protected tenant union organizing (Category 2 states listed below); and nineteen states had no laws protecting tenant associations or tenant association organizing (Category 3 states below).
+Legal Protections for Tenant Union Organizing in the United States by StateStateCategoryProtectionsAlabama2Uniform and Residential Landlord Tenant Act prohibits retaliation for organizing or being involved with a tenants union.Alaska2Uniform and Residential Landlord Tenant Act prohibits retaliation for organizing or being involved with a tenants union.Arizona2Uniform and Residential Landlord Tenant Act prohibits retaliation for organizing or being involved with a tenants union. Tenants at mobile home and residential vehicle parks have additional rights.Arkansas3No laws found.California1Substantial protections for tenant union organizing. In some circumstances, tenant associations have substantive rights, such as an opportunity to purchase some regulated housing developments or the right to raise some health and safety claims.Colorado2Landlords may not retaliate against tenants for making complaints to the landlord or to governmental entities.Connecticut2Landlords may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being involved with a tenants union. Tenant unions often have an opportunity to purchase buildings during a conversion to a condominium. Tenant associations have additional rights in state housing projects and in mobile home parks.Delaware2Landlords may not retaliate against tenants who organized or are officers in a tenants’ organization. Tenant associations in manufactured home communities have additional rights. District of Columbia1Tenants have the right to organize, to meet and confer through representatives of their own choosing with the owner, and to engage in concerted activities for mutual aid and protections. Tenant organizers often have the right to canvass in multifamily housing accommodations. Owners may not interfere with tenants' self-organizational activities. Under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, tenants associations often have an opportunity to purchase rental buildings when the owner wishes to sell them.Florida2Landlords may not retaliate against tenants for organizing, encouraging or participating in a tenant organization. Tenants of mobile home parks have additional rights.Georgia3No laws found.Idaho3No general tenant protection found. Tenants of floating home marinas have the right to form a tenant association. Tenants of mobile and manufactured home parks have additional rights. Illinois3No general tenant protection found. Tenants in assisted housing developments receiving governmental funding have additional rights.Indiana3No general tenant protection found.Iowa2Landlords may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or becoming a member of a tenants union.Kansas2Landlords may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or becoming a member of a tenants’ union.Louisiana3No laws found.Maine2Tenants cannot be evicted if the eviction action was brought in retaliation for tenant union organizing. Maryland2Landlords cannot include in rental agreements any provisions permitting eviction based on tenant union organizing. In Montgomery County, landlords cannot retaliate against tenants for membership in a tenants organization. Mobile home park tenants have additional rights. Massachusetts2In an eviction process, a tenant may raise a defense that the action was brought in retaliation for organizing or joining a tenants union. Any person who retaliates against a tenant for their tenant union activities is liable for damages. Tenants of manufactured home parks and public housing developments have additional rights.Michigan2Tenants may not be evicted action if the eviction was based on retaliation against a tenant for tenant union activities. Tenants of public and affordable housing developments have additional rights.Minnesota2Housing-related neighborhood organizations may bring legal actions for violations of landlord-tenant law on behalf of tenants. They may also request an inspection of facilities. Landlords may not retaliate against tenants for filing complaints. Tenants in manufactured home parks have additional rights.Mississippi3No laws found.Missouri3No laws found.Montana2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being a member of tenant unions. Tenants of mobile home parks have additional rights.Nebraska2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being a member of tenant unions. Nevada2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being a member of tenant unions. New Hampshire2In eviction proceedings, tenants may raise a defense that the eviction is retaliation for tenant union activity. Tenants of mobile and manufactured home parks have additional rights.New Jersey2Landlords may not evict tenants for their membership or involvement in any lawful organization. Landlords may not evict tenants for refusing to comply with terms of tenancy which the landlord altered to retaliate for tenant organization activity. New Mexico2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being a member of tenant unions. New York1Landlords may not interfere with the right of tenants to form, join or participate in tenant organization, and may not punish, harass, or retaliate against tenants for exercising these rights. Tenant unions have the right to meet on the premises in any common use area without having to pay a fee. Limited-profit housing companies must adopt regulations recognizing tenant associations. Tenants in those properties have additional rights. Tenant associations providing services have some additional rights. North Carolina3No laws found.North Dakota3No laws found.Ohio2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing with each other for the purpose of dealing collectively with the landlord. Low-income housing programs may provide grants to tenant associations.Oregon2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being a member of tenant unions. Tenants in manufactured home and floating home parks have additional rights.Pennsylvania2Landlords may not terminate or decline to renew a lease due to a tenant union organizing or membership. Puerto Rico3No laws found.Rhode Island2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being a member of tenant unions. Tenants in mobile home parks and federally insured or assisted housing have some additional rights.South Carolina3No laws found.South Dakota2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being a member of tenant unions. Tennessee3No laws found.Texas2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being a member of tenant unions. Tenant organizations in low-income housing have additional rights.Utah3No general tenant protections found. Residents of mobile home parks have additional rights. Vermont2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being a member of tenant unions. Virginia2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being a member of tenant unions. Washington3No laws found.West Virginia3No general tenant protections found. Tenants in house trailers, mobile homes, manufactured homes, and modular homes are protected from eviction for tenant union organizing or membership. Wisconsin2Landlord may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or being a member of tenant unions. Wyoming3No laws found.Oklahoma3No laws found.Kentucky2Landlords may not retaliate against tenants for organizing or becoming a member of a tenants’ union. Provides some services to tenants living in low incoming housing, including advisory services for creating tenant organizations to “which will assume a meaningful and responsible role in the planning and carrying out of housing affairs.”Hawaii3Tenant organizations have the right to sue in the organization’s name to abate nuisance. Resident advisory boards are established for public housing projects.
See also List of tenant union federations
References