As individual tenants, we have limited bargaining power against landlords who have little incentive to listen or respond to our demands. But with the collective power of a Tenants Union, we are better equipped to rectify these issues. Whether we as individuals have had positive or negative experiences with our housing situation, as tenants, we are all vulnerable. This is especially true given that UCI Housing has a near monopoly on subsidized housing in the area.
Why is it important to have a Tenants Union?
Though the University provides subsidized housing for some graduate students and faculty, rent is only priced below-market relative to the outrageously expensive Orange County housing market. In most cases, UCI is our employer and knows exactly how much we earn. Yet the majority of tenants living on campus are rent-burdened, spending 30% or more of their monthly income on rent. For many UCI workers and students, subsidized university housing is our only affordable option. As such, UCI Housing can make decisions regarding its prospective and current tenants with impunity. During the pandemic, UCI broke the housing guarantees of graduate student workers quarantining off campus, even after advising us to return home and sequester with friends and families.
Additionally, there is no transparency around housing assignments, including getting off waitlists . For affiliates and families who do succeed in obtaining housing, UCI often does not comply with ADA and does not perform sufficient long-term maintenance. These are just a few of many instances which demonstrate UCI Housing’s commitment to its own interests over those of its tenants.
As tenants, we have few legal protections. Legal recourse is very costly and inherently favors landlords. Taking a landlord, and their insurance company, to court over unlawful eviction or discrimination is prohibitively expensive (by design) and can take months, or even years, before being settled. It is especially difficult to challenge an institution like UCI, which has far more resources than any individual tenant does.
What can a Tenants Union do?
However, through a Tenants Union we can come together to provide mutual care and enforce our demands through numbers. As an organized body, we can grow a mutual aid fund from members’ voluntary contributions. Mutual aid can be used to help tenants who need financial assistance for emergency relocation and other threats to their housing security.
And these issues don't stop at the campus boundaries. Other landlords take advantage of the high tenant turnover and students' and workers' need to be near campus to charge extraordinarily high rents for inadequate housing.
There is strength in numbers. Issues are taken more seriously when many people speak up about a shared grievance. Through the structure of a Tenants Union, we can be in communication with each other about our struggles and coordinate actions like lodging complaints, circulating petitions, organizing rallies, and more.
The most effective action we can take is a rent strike. A rent strike is an action taken by tenants with the same landlord to withhold their rent and force their landlord to respond meaningfully to demands for fair pricing and safe living conditions. Though this action may be taken at any time by a group of tenants, a Tenants Union can play an essential role in coordinating a rent strike. In the long term, a Tenants Union is crucial for building the strong community of mutual support and trust a successful strike requires. For many of us, UCI is both our landlord and our employer. This gives us a unique collective power as tenants -- the capacity to withhold our labor and our rent in order to apply real pressure on the administration.
How can I be involved?
All tenants (on-campus and off-campus) and unhoused people affiliated with UCI are welcome to enroll as members here. By enrolling you will receive housing updates as well as information about upcoming meetings and actions.
We plan to have a mutual aid fund which members can contribute to. This fund will support emergency relocation for members and other threats to their housing security.
ATU is just getting started. Come organize with us and fight for housing justice and a better Anteater community! If you are interested in getting more involved, please reach out at AnteaterTU@gmail.com.
You can also make your voice heard by having a say in our ongoing list of demands.
Don't we already have a union?
UCI has a strong worker union movement, and housing is an important facet of worker's rights. However, given UCI's refusal to negotiate on housing issues and the fact that housing affects many community members not employed by UCI, we think it is important to have a union dedicated specifically to housing issues.
We value our strong ties with the unions and recommend that you join your union.
UAW 2865 - TAs, Tutors and Readers: https://uaw2865.org/
SRU-UAW - Student Researchers and Fellows: https://studentresearchersunited.org/about/
UAW 5810 - Postdocs and Academic Researchers: https://uaw5810.org/
UC-AFT - Non-Senate Faculty and Librarians: https://ucaft.org/
AFSCME 3299 - Service, Patient Care, Skilled Craft Workers, and more: https://afscme3299.org/
Teamsters 2010 - Skilled Trade Workers: https://teamsters2010.org/
UPTE - Healthcare, Research, and Technical Workers: http://upte-cwa.org/
CIR/SEIU - Medical Residents, Interns, and Fellows: https://www.cirseiu.org/
California Nurses Association - Registered Nurses: https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/california-nurses-association