Portland Tenants Union

Apologies to those who have messaged. This is a zombie page, left over from a failed campaign to organize portland maine's tenants, and the organizers were priced out of portland a long time ago and no new leadership took their place. A tenant's union is still very much needed in Portland, and in every city, but keeping this page active may have actually served as a hinderance to something taking it's place, so this page will be scheduled for deletion.

‘We would literally not survive’: How Trump’s plans for the social safety net would affect America’s poorest About 90 million low-income Americans rely on Medicaid, housing subsidies or food stamps.

The City Council has repeatedly shown that given the choice between a thoughtful interrogation of the underlying causes of the city's housing crisis and a convenient and wilful ignorance that continues to permit a small number of companies to prey on the most vulnerable of our residents, they will invariably choose the latter. In this Letter to the Editor, Cait Vaughan directly calls them out, and challenges all of us to demand meaningful leadership for our community. Thanks, Cait!

http://www.pressherald.com/2016/09/15/letter-to-the-editor-city-officials-fail-to-do-enough-for-tenants-in-housing-crisis/

Letter to the editor: City officials fail to do enough for tenants in housing crisis - The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram During a recent meeting addressing housing security, City Councilor Spencer Thibodeau stated, “We are not the Affordable Housing Committee; we are the Housing Committee.”

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5979650-181/divided-santa-rosa-city-council?artslide=0

Divided Santa Rosa City Council enacts rent control rules

Gentrification isn't just about cultural homogeneity; it's about economic justice and vitality. Having affordable housing so folks can live within a reasonable distance of their job is good for everyone.

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21627628-difficulty-people-have-getting-jobs-makes-unemployment-unnecessarily

The geography of joblessness The difficulty people have in getting to jobs makes unemployment unnecessarily high

Cooperatives for long-term housing security:

https://www.thenation.com/article/welcome-to-sunny-barcelona-where-the-government-is-embracing-coops-citizen-activism-and-solar-energy/

Welcome to Sunny Barcelona, Where the Government Is Embracing Coops, Citizen Activism, and Solar Energy

A little assistance goes a long, long way. Something to remind Jon Jennings when he starts talking about 'right-sizing' the city and similar nonsense.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/08/bit-cash-can-keep-someone-streets-2-years-or-more?utm_source=sciencemagazine&utm_medium=facebook-text&utm_campaign=helpthehomeless-6490

A bit of cash can keep someone off the streets for 2 years or more Study shows efficacy of programs that aim to stop homelessness before it starts

""People are suffering now, and we need some rapid action now to protect people from being out on the streets," says Crystal Cron, chairman, Portland Tenants Union.

"We need protections so that ordinary working people can stay in the city they know and love and the city should be for everyone, not just for people who decide they want to come here and make Portland their playground," says Cron."

Portland Coalition for Housing Justice holds a rally at City Hall PORTALND (WGME) -- The Portland Coalition for Housing Justice is looking for solutions to the Portland housing crisis.The group held a rally on the steps of City Hall.They want to see limitations on rent increases and a rise in the general assistance rent

"MacMillan said the tenants union is open to the idea, but said such a commission shouldn’t replace consideration of a separate city ombudsman to advocate for tenants.

“We are interested in discussing the idea on a city-level, but as usual, whether we would support it or not is in the details. Broadly, we support using the city’s influence to make life easier and more regular for tenants and landlords alike,” he said.

“If a tenant were to take their issue with their landlord to such a commission, the tenant would run the risk of being blacklisted by the increasingly small number of landlords in town and labeled a ‘troublemaker,'” MacMillan continued. “Fundamentally, the owner of the property is given all of the advantages. We want to change this. We do support the funding of a tenant ombudsman by the city of Portland, which is an idea often paired with a tenant-landlord commission as presented by Mr. Sweeney.”

Landlords and tenants in Portland both like this idea to improve relations “It doesn’t have to be in favor or tenants or in favor of landlords, but in favor of those relationships.”

Portland's rental crisis is a feminist issue:

As Rental Prices Rise, Women Stay In Bad Relationships to Survive | Broadly With rental prices going up in major cities across the globe, a sizeable percentage of women report being in an unwanted sexual relationship to avoid homelessness

How can we challenge the Portland evictions? Dozens of poor and disabled people will be senselessly thrown out of their homes and into the Maine winter at the start of March.