Interview with 39th Townhomes Tenant Union Steering Committee

Editorial Note – Names were anonymized to defend against retaliation.

[Interviewer] How old is your tenant union?

[steering committee – Everyone Sort of At Once] I don’t know.  6 months. It started in the middle of summer. Four months.

[Interviewer] How did the union start?

[Tenant 1] Basically I believe it was Tenant 4 or 5 who had gotten a little fed up with things and reached out to RAN. It was a big ADA violation. They blocked doors, tore up sidewalks. I couldn’t leave my apartment. That was the thing that was like “yeah things need to change.” And then I reached out to a friend in a mutual aid group that had tabled at an event RAN tabled at. 

[Tenant 2] And then I and most of us joined because Eel[A RAN Organizer] knocked on our door and asked if we were interested in a tenant union at all.

[Tenant 3] What actually allowed this to happen is that we have been through 4 property management companies in a period of like 3 years. So the tenants having experienced those very jarring moments in such a short time made it pretty easy for people to be on the same page. 

[Tenant 4] There was a discord that people were griping pretty constantly in so at one point I think one of our neighbors was like “should we do a tenants union” and Bug told me about it and that’s when I joined the Discord and said yes we are doing this.

[Interviewer] You definitely seem more social than some complexes I have seen. Do you know how much of your complex is organized?

[Tenant 2] We have about 16 to 20 units that have shown interest. We have eight that are like actively involved. 

[Interviewer] We all in RAN have been very impressed by your tenant union. We are holding you up right now as the model, no pressure. We are interested in what factors have led to this rapid development.

[Tenant 1] I personally want to thank Clayton Giordano for being such an absolutely terrible property owner that he has spurred us all to community through communal hatred. 

[Tenant 2] I do think that a combination of all of us having a really urgent issue, ADA non compliance, that was currently happening when we were writing our first demand letter and having the urgency to get it done while that issue was still happening was the reason we started with so much momentum. But then it is really easy because we didn’t have any context for how slow things normally move to just keep that momentum going. We wanted to get the first demand letter out right away and then it just made sense, because we had so many issues, to just get the next one as fast as possible. And I think again not having the context that it normally goes slower really helped that. 

[Tenant 3] We had a combination of talent and motivation that was able to maintain the speed we had. We have people who are like really good at document processing. And at organizing and scheduling. We have people who now how to speak to others. Even when it is a situation outside of their comfort zone and also we all have gone through similar things as far as bad apartment experiences. So that we can all show up pretty consistently and get other people as motivated as us. 

[Tenant 2] Our steering committee is incredibly diverse in the skills and talents that we have and that makes a huge difference

[Tenant 4] Also a large number of young people in this complex. RAN being there for questions that came up was really helpful. That way things didn’t slow down.

[Tenant 5] Having [the RAN organizer] around to do some of the stuff that the rest of us didn’t want to do when we were really fledgling, like the door knocking and flyering and facilitating honestly helped quite a bit because I know if that had been dumped at me right in the beginning, we would not be here right now.

[Tenant 5] Having RAN was also comforting to a lot of people who are like “I don’t know how to join a tenant’s union or be in one or anything like that.”

[Tenant 2] It made it feel a lot more official. Like an actual organization and not just your neighbors are mad. And I want to give props to Eel. It wasn’t just all that work in the beginning but the transition of Eel keeping us on track as we got more confident. Giving us a good layout of the next steps. Even now they keep us on track. Pushing us in the right direction even though now we are a lot more solid in what we are expecting from each other. 

[Interviewer] This has been touched on a little bit but what has been the role of your steering committee and of leadership in general in your steering committee?

[Tenant 5] I think a lot of it is organizing. Like when does everyone have time to talk? And then opening up the floor for people to share what’s really hard for them. And what they would like addressed and making sure that we are listening to people and being here to say “yeah that’s fucked up, they shouldn’t be able to do that.” Then they feel justified enough to say they want to help something happen. At least that’s a lot of what I do. Talking to neighbors, asking if they are mad about this thing. 

[Tenant 3] Our whole job is to provide a space where our neighbors feel comfortable advocating for themselves. And organizing all those complaints into actual action that we can take together.  We are all complaining about the same things and we can do something about it. Some of it is as simple as note taking, making the email, all of the boring stuff that you don’t really want to think about when you are organizing because you want the big actions to happen. 

[Tenant 3] We also have some internal requirements to be a part of and remain on the steering committee. We each have to take ownership over something every so often. Whether that’s writing something or door knocking. To be capable of taking action when the moment arises. We have be able to, as a steering committee, have a shared ideal and be able to escalate. We understand that as a core trait of leadership. Being able to do those things in those moments.

[Tenant 4] Having that separate level and the label that comes behind it has just helped our ability to delegate responsibility as a whole. If there wasn’t a specific smaller committee then it could be really difficult for one person to rally people in the tenant’s union to do actions, make documents, or whatever it is. The structure of it has really helped. 

[Interviewer] What are your goals for the tenant union?

[Tenant 5] Communication, that has been our ask the entire time that we have really been told “actually we don’t have to.” That’s not all we are asking, but a majority of what we are asking is our neighbors want to know when they are going to be inconvenienced and to have it be done in ways that don’t violate our rights.

[Tenant 2] Communication and security. It’s an ongoing problem in this complex in a variety of ways. Between the lack of communication which helps us feel less secure and the actual insecurity like not having a working gate or some locks don’t work in the complex. Communication and security are the goals in the short term. 

[Tenant 5] And having up to code apartments. Having heaters in every unit. Having all of our amenities working. Having things be safe like our balconies not sagging would be nice. Not having mold.

[Tenant 4] And I think that building the community up within the complex, meeting our neighbors, doing social stuff like that.

[Tenant 2] I actually really like that because I don’t think initially we planned that. We knew we needed a community to have a tenant union, but the kind of community we built is like the kind I have imagined a cool complex has. That was a happy accident that we now lean into and it is really beneficial.

[Interviewer] How did you cultivate that community?

[Tenant 2] Some of us are really excited about hosting parties. 

[Tenant 5] I really like parties.

[Tenant 3] One thing that is a symptom of being in Portland is that people are deprived of community. People move in and out of the city a lot. They have trouble finding people that are like them or any sense of community. So the fact that we have made that a priority of the Tenant Union is very attractive. 

[Tenant 2] Portland has no third spaces that are free and for us to provide that for our neighbors has been huge. 

[Tenant 4] There is a lot of alienation going on more broadly. We have an opportunity to reach out and get people involved that otherwise wouldn’t. 

[Tenant 5] There is a lot of hyper individuality in our culture right now. That is what capitalism thrives on. All of us doing our own thing. When you come together it becomes something grand because we are each doing a little bit. But that’s not common. It is expected for one person to do something by themselves.

[Tenant 2] It has also been having that kind of community that fostered people hosting and feeling comfortable hosting. Like Greg started doing movie days, and that is unrelated to the TU entirely, but because we had that sense of community it was easy to move forward with that. 

[Interviewer] What are some medium and long term visions for what you would like the tenant union to accomplish? 

[Tenant 2] There are big projects like mold or plumbing. I think this actually lends itself to why we move so fast and have gotten stuff done so fast. Almost all the stuff we are focused on are short term. We need it done like now and it is important. It makes it really easy for the momentum. But long term, aside from those large projects, maintaining the sense of community we have I think is a major goal. Also maintaining affordability and safety in the complex as prices in Portland continue to rise. 

[Tenant 4] It’s really clear, especially if you look at VCS’ website that they are prioritizing maximizing the profits that can be made. So it is really clear what they prioritize about what gets done around the complex. You are doing all these things while the initial concerns of this community like mold and plumbing are not being addressed. 

[Bug] Plumbing is going to be a really big thing. Maybe a constant thing until they really fix it. The way this apartment was built the pipes and stuff were not built big enough. That’s going to be a long term thing.

[Tenant 5] More broadly, and you brought this up already, we don’t want the property owners to just come in and do the aesthetic things and try what amounts to gentrifying the complex. We don’t want the huge turn over of tenants who have been here a while just so they can get people who can pay more money. 

[Tenant 4] They are just painting over the problems. 

[Interviewer] What advice would you give to unorganized tenants who are interested in organizing their complex? 

[Tenant 2] Start by finding a small group. Talk to your neighbors. Schedule a bunch of meetings and try to get people to show up as often as they can. You’ll see people who are showing up to every meeting, and that is your starting point. Knock on doors, meet your neighbors, community is the only way any organizing can happen. 

[Tenant 5] Don’t be afraid to knock on doors. Don’t be afraid to be a little bit of an inconvenience, because at some point it becomes more endearing.

[Tenant 4] If you are experiencing an issue, most likely all your neighbors are too. Make sure to agitate, to push it with your neighbors. Touch on the common issues. 

[Tenant 3] People have a sense of Stockholm syndrome. They have been here a certain amount of time and they just accept all the problems.

[Tenant 5] I’ve named that mold over there. 

[Laughter]

[Tenant 3] Finding common issues whether that be like anything right? Because people will only engage in conversation when they feel comfortable around you. They feel like you can understand where they are at. 

[Tenant 4] Just holding time while knocking to discuss what their issues have been. Let’s them feel a little more secure in being a part of it. It is also good info for the Tenant Union. 

[Interviewer] What are major challenges you have faced throughout this process?

[Tenant 3] Attendance. 

[Tenant 1] Commitment in the sense that people show up more than once. They are very vocal in their support, a lot of people, but not as much in the showing up and doing that work. The biggest struggle I have had is trying to get people excited to participate more than just observe. 

[Tenant 5] Having snacks, incentives, for coming to the meeting has been helpful for sure. Once we had one big meeting where we had lots of people and it was super exciting and then slowly its kind of dispersed, especially with the weather turning a little because we did everything outside before. Keeping that momentum going, especially when you had people come to a couple meetings, sign membership cards, are officially members, but now they aren’t coming to anything. This is something we are still trying to work on. How do we get those people back on.

[Interviewer] What are some accomplishments that you are proud of that you won so far?

[Tenant 3] It’s not an “accomplishment” but the fact that we were able to bring attention via the ADA letter that there is some non compliance and it led to the firing of the property manager. Albeit that was not our desired outcome, but the fact that we are able to let them know and take accountability was very impactful for us to see. Also the caveat that we didn’t want that company to be fired, but we’re definitely making a difference. 

[Tenant 5] Making waves. 

[Tenant 4] We certainly rocked the ship. That is our biggest accomplishment so far. 

[Tenant 3] We had this suspicion that VCS was brought on board to union bust and the fact that initially we were ignored and they explicitly said they would ignore us going forward. But now that we have maintained some solidarity in communication. CCing tenants union, mentioning the tenant union in the maintenance requests and this has made them adjust their behavior for the better. 

[Interviewer] Those are all my questions, do y’all have some closing thoughts? 

[Tenant 1] Regarding our effectiveness as a steering committee, honestly us being willing and able to take some of the hits that management can throw out there probably helps a lot in reassuring and making the rest of the community feel a little safer. They know that we have put ourselves out there as prominent so they can still participate without necessarily painting a target on themselves which creates an environment that makes people comfortable to come forward.

[Tenant 3] Steering committee has to be aware of possible down stream consequences of tenant organizing. The committee has to be willing to take some of that heat first before we are willing to escalate further and potentially damaging the living experience of others.

[Tenant 5] We can’t ask people to put themselves on the line if we aren’t willing to. 

[Tenant 3] We have to be very calculated giving the chance of bringing negative consequences unintentionally.