Since its formation in 2019, KC Tenants has had a significant impact in Kansas City.
Several policies championed by the organization are now in place, including a Tenants Bill of Rights, free legal counsel for renters in eviction court, and a prohibition on landlords rejecting potential tenants solely because they use housing vouchers. And last year, four of the six candidates endorsed by the group's political arm ultimately won their races.
Now, KC Tenants is taking its influence to the national stage as a part of the Tenant Union Federation, a "union of tenant unions" that aims to push for renter protections at the federal level. The group also wants to standardize an approach to tenant organizing.
"We've barely scratched the surface on what tenant organizing could be and what it could look like," the group's founder and director, Tara Raghuveer, told KCUR's Up To Date. "We really see ourselves right now as in a similar, similar place to where the labor movement was at the beginning part of the last century."
KC Tenants is one of five founding locals in the Tenant Union Federation, but Raghuveer said the organization aims to add to its ranks in the future.
- Tara Raghuveer, founder and director, KC Tenants
