A Post-Event Update
We have been busy connecting Tenants and building our power after the Know Your Rights Workshop, so this update is a little late, BUT! We are excited to let you know,
It was a success!
After weeks of organizing within the fledgling Nelson Tenants Union organizers gathered with allies from RSB and invited Tenants to join them at the Nelson Civic Theatre on May 7th, 2022. We even had online participants join in from all over BC.
Our success was based on three points: Tenant participation in exercising and understanding their rights, new member growth and participation, and community awareness. The event presented us with an opportunity to connect with other Tenants in the area, building solidarity and breaking through the loneliness of our unjust housing system. Impressively we had a varied group of people show their interest. Between dozens of tenants were some homeowners and a few uncomfortable landlords.
Overall tenants got to enjoy a short presentation about their tenancy rights and how isolating the processes can be when facing a housing challenge. Importantly, Tenant’s were given the time to think about their housing situations, how they could connect with their neighbours, and how that in turn, their active participation in the democratic processes of community building could prove beneficial to their housing needs.
As a result of the event, we have had a LOT of interest come our way. From Tenants wanting to volunteer and learn more, to media coverage trying to find an alternative to the status quo of for-profit-housing. This has brought Tenants from all over the Kootenays to question and push for their own Tenant organizing groups. More on that to come in further updates.
The Nelson Star and other local news outlets such as the Kootenay Co-Op radio and Bounce radio were all incredibly helpful and charitable. Media coverage wasn’t contained to the Kootenay’s either, in the Oakanagan, Day Break With Chris Walker was interested in having a conversation with Organizers about what tenants could expect from collective bargaining rights and the movement behind the NTU, RSB.
Ultimately, we have had a tremendous response from Tenants who have been feeling the pressure from a for-profit-housing system that has for far too long pushed them to the edge of survival within the Canadian context of economic collapse. We are happy and excited to continue growing within the community and connecting with more Tenants. We look forward to the challenges that come from making our voices heard by governments that have failed Tenants for so long. Despite having a monetary and resource disadvantage to Landlords and realtors associations, we are energized and motivated to continue this fight, and we hope that as more members join, they feel the same way. We do have an amazing and dedicated team, and as we grow we will be able to challenge these issues more pro-actively. We have a lot of work to do, but stories from Tenants in the area keep us motivated to continue working against the in-justices they, and we, are facing on a daily basis. If you have a housing horror story that you would like to share, please email us at nelsontenantsunion@protonmail.com. or fill out THIS form.
For us to be successful we need to work together. Without Tenants coming together we are doomed to continue suffering in the solitude of our societal flaws. We are doing what we can to bring people together, despite the divisive nature of the for-profit-housing model.
In solidarity, I ask that you consider no longer being alone in the struggle for just-housing. Join or form a Tenants Union, organize, and fight for your rights with a community around you. As many great people have said, A better world is possible.
Solidarity forever,
James Barbeiro,
NTU organizer.