A group of West Side renters have taken the historic step of forming the West Side Tenant Union– the first tenant union here on the West Side! If you are a West Side renter, we need you to join us!

“We’re fighting for dignified living. That’s what we do here with the tenant union. We have a vision for what community looks like, and we’re starting with us renters.," said Mayra Avila, WSCO Housing Justice Organizer. "We’re starting to come together, we’re starting to share, we’re starting to say ‘Hey, we’re not gonna run scared, and we’re not going to let landlords pit us against each other.’”

What we do 

The West Side Tenant Union collectively builds power in our community of renters by sharing resources, amplifying renter voices, and organizing for housing justice on the West Side! This includes:

• Building power with renters on the West Side to address issues in their buildings
• Learning about renters rights and sharing resources to support renters
  
• Organizing to transform systems that exploit or harm renters

We are a proud supporter of the nationwide Tenant Union Federation (TUF). Learn more about TUF's work to pass a Tenant Bill of Rights.

We are a neighborhood-based tenant union, made up of renters from buildings across the West Side:

"Tenant unions are building, neighborhood, or city-based organizations made up of, and led by, tenants to fight for our collective interests and rights. Building-based tenants unions are generally made up of tenants who live in the same building and/or have the same landlord. Neighborhood and city-based tenant unions are networks of tenants who often have similar issues and stand in solidarity with each other, but may live in different buildings or have different landlords." –Kansas City Tenants

Get involved

Come to our monthly meetings!

We learn together, strategize next steps, and build camaraderie with each other

• When: the last Wednesday of every month
  
• Where: WSCO’s offices, 209 Page Street West, St. Paul
• Visit our event calendar to RSVP for upcoming meetings or reach out to [email protected] directly for details
  
• Who: open to West Side renters
• Snacks provided, childcare and interpretation available upon request

Contact us

• Text RENTER to (651) 800-9618 and one of our organizers will follow up with you.
• Reach out to our Housing Justice organizer Mayra Avila ([email protected]) for more information.
• Take the West Side renters survey and tell us about an issue in your building

Doorknock with us! 

• We are working hard to connect with every renter on the West Side. Join us in a doorknock! Interested in door knocking your building or your block? Reach out! We can help make it happen. 
• When: We usually doorknock on Wednesday evenings.

Renter stories

“It takes courage to say to our neighbor, ‘Hey, this is happening to me in my apartment, is it happening to you too? Let’s do something about it, let’s have a gathering with other people in the building, let’s talk.’” When we did that as a tenant union, what we heard was: infestations, mold, not having their repairs done, getting forced out of their units. We were able to see that we are all facing the same thing, so renters wrote a demand letter together, signed it, and let the landlord know that it’s not just one person, it’s all of us united.” – Mayra Avila, pictured, above

“I’m speaking from my heart. We’re here to inform all the renters who are being put out of their apartments… we’re all going to come together to try to change that. We will try to unionize as many people as we can, to change the current status quo. We don’t have to put our heads down in shame, we don’t have to tell each other ‘we got put out.’ We’re not going anywhere!” – Marcus Troy, West Side renter, WSCO board member, and founding member of the West Side Tenant Union (pictured, below).

“We had no air conditioning, even in extreme heat. There were rats, cockroaches, bedbugs. We got together and sent a letter to the landlord, so he would listen to us and understand what we needed."– Teresa, West Side renter

“My hope is that our rent doesn't get raised, that the repairs continue, that we're all happy living in this building and that our group keeps meeting to support others who face the same problems."– Alejandra, West Side renter

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