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2020 was a hard year, but it was also empowering. We’re looking forward to building a stronger, bolder, and more strident union in 2021. In the meantime, let’s look back at the year that was. (1/17)
TANC started in 2018 with a handful of people who wanted to organize against a single slumlord. In 2020, we witnessed explosive growth amid the worst financial and health crisis of our lifetime. Our membership grew from 60 members to about 400 today. (2/17)
It wasn’t just TANC that grew. Tenants across North America came together to start the first autonomous tenants association—the Autonomous Tenants Union Network (ATUN). ATUN is a network of democratic organizations that is run by and for tenants. https://atun-rsia.org/ (3/17)
Covid-19 brought unprecedented changes to our political, social, economic lives. TANC members responded in a number of ways. (4/17)
First, we released two organizing guides for all tenants to use: TANC’s Pandemic Organizing Guide and a Tenant Council Handbook and Escalation Guide. Each of these documents was viewed thousands of times over, and were put into practice by tenants everywhere. (5/17)
Second, we set up a system for tenant research, open for all Bay Area tenants who wanted to know what their landlords actually owned. Over 300 different tenants requested research on their landlords from us. (6/17)
Third, we launched a campaign for rent suspension, in which tenants organized to demand rent reductions. Over 550 tenants signed up! TANC members held organizing office hours, where we brainstormed organizing solutions for tenants facing issues. (7/17) https://baytanc.com/suspendrent/
Since then, hundreds of tenants negotiated rent reductions and cancellations with their specific landlord. Many more have negotiated better rental terms, including adding new master tenants, or adding more tenants to their leases.
Though we have yet to win a large state-wide victory on rent debt cancellation, we have built power and capacity that will carry on into 2021. (9/17)
In tandem, we ramped up our political education efforts. In May we held a reading group on housing under capitalism. We also hosted a talk by former Black Panther Party member Gerald Smith on the 1960s Harlem rent strike. (10/17)
2020 also saw TANC hold its first demo—Life Over Rent! In September, hundreds of tenants gathered at the steps of the Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland to demand that our lives are placed before the landlords’ profits. (11/17)
The demo featured speakers from various tenant councils, a revolutionary organizer from the Black Panther Party, and leaders of the militant union ILWU. (12/17)
Lest we forget: 2020 also featured a massive social movement against racist police brutality. Many TANC members put their efforts on hold to follow the movement's lead and support its growth. (13/17)
In June, TANC put out a pro-abolitionist solidarity statement, which supported defunding police throughout the country. As we see it, evictions are also a form of racist police violence used to enforce landlord power over working class tenants. (14/17) https://baytanc.com/abolition-now/
The last 2020 highlight we’ll mention is our EBRHA campaign. EBRHA, or the East Bay Rental Housing Association, promotes landlords' class interests and opposes even basic tenant protections. (15/17) https://baytanc.com/ebrha-campaign/
Our campaign calls on EBRHA affiliated landlords to negotiate rent debt cancellation and rent reductions with tenant councils. We are canvassing buildings owned by EBRHA members and supporting these tenants in organizing with their neighbors. (16/17)
2021 will likely bring about an intensification of tenant struggles. We have to be ready. Tenants must know that they need not stand alone, and that if the eviction wave hits us, we are stronger together. Join us! (17/17) https://baytanc.com/signup/
