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We have already shared about our work in developing Eviction Defense Hubs, a mutual support and organizing model based on the Participatory Defense Hubs created by Silicon Valley De-Bug for the criminal court system. We have continued to partner with the tenant organizing team of the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) to build a robust model in which tenants who are navigating the eviction courts support each other through collective learning, wisdom-sharing, and mutual aid. To date, the dozens of tenants who have moved through this process have left better equipped to fight their eviction, to organize with other tenants in their building, and to better understand the injustices of the housing system. For Movement Matters, a critical part of this process is also connecting tenants’ individual eviction cases to more systemic organizing opportunities; to transform the “little s” self-interest of staying in one’s home, to a “capital S” self-interest of fighting for quality affordable housing for all. We have identified small ways to do this within the Eviction Defense Hubs. For example, we have supported a tenant who is being targeted by their landlord to canvass their building to identify how widespread the harassment is, as well as to connect this canvassing to ongoing efforts to build a strong tenant association in the building. In addition, at the Hub meetings themselves, we have been holding discussions about the eroding city rent support programs and the need for more radical approaches to dealing with the fact that the rent is too damn high. As part of this iterative approach of finding opportunities for more transformative work within the individual cases, we are now in the planning stages for a complementary type of mutual aid/organizing hybrid that we are tentatively calling Participatory Action Hubs (PAH). We recognize that the Eviction Defense Hubs, while incredibly important, are reactive and keep most of the focus on the individual case. They also do not equip tenants to address negligent landlords, particularly around issues of housing code violations and conditions issues. We are currently developing the infrastructure for a parallel tenant-led mutual support model that will help tenants sue their landlord in conditions court, lead rent strikes, or otherwise proactively address bad landlord behavior. We know that the existing court systems are inadequate. Even winning a conditions case in housing court often only results in “patch and paint” approaches to terrible building conditions or minimal fines that landlords can ignore. However, we know that if we approach this work as part of an organizing process, it can become a strategic tool for tenant action. For instance:
All of this work becomes possible when we create community-based infrastructure that is grounded in broad tenant leadership, guided by a clear vision and values, and fosters a culture of critical reflection and adaptation. Connect with us for more information on our Technical Assistance and Action Coalitions work. Movement Matters is based in Washington, DC. We work regionally and with national partners. Since April of 2022, Movement Matters has been working in collaboration with several legal service providers, social workers and community organizing groups in a joint project to keep DC tenants in their homes by fighting evictions. With the end of the COVID eviction moratorium and an absence of city funding and leadership on this issue, several thousand DC residents face eviction each month. In response to these conditions, Eviction Prevention in Communities (EPIC) has been building up a canvassing apparatus to ensure that tenants who are facing evictions know their options and are connected to long-term infrastructure to build tenant power. This month, EPIC launched the Eviction Defense Hub. This "Hub" is modeled after Silicon Valley DeBug's participatory defense project in the criminal courts, which allows individuals and communities to take back agency over their involvement with the overly bureaucratic and puzzling "criminal justice" system. Organizers from the Latino Economic Development Center's Tenant Organizing Team, Empower DC, DC Jobs with Justice, Bread for the City, and Movement Matters have adapted this tool to landlord-tenant court. Movement Matters has helped to ensure that Hub meetings incorporate cultural organizing and popular education to create stronger bonds among tenants and connect to the deeper values of anti-eviction work. We are also assisting community partners to develop strategic organizing responses to issues that surface during Hub meetings. The Hub comes at a time when government rental assistance and tenant protections are either being diminished or eliminated by the DC City Council and Mayor while landlord attempts to evict tenants are rising at alarming rates with no end in sight. Connect with us for more information on MM's Technical Assistance and Action Coalitions work. Movement Matters is based in Washington, DC. We work regionally and with national partners. |
