State House Rally for Tenant Rights pushes for legal counsel and just cause evictions
"We need solutions to stop the hemorrhaging, the homelessness, and the lack of stability that 40% of people in the state face every day in Rhode Island's rental market."
“Right now, here in Rhode Island, single moms are losing their homes for no other reason than because they demanded necessary repairs,” writes Reclaim RI, a progressive organization fighting for social and economic justice. “Right now, terrified people are forced to accept a bad deal in the hallways of eviction court without ever seeing a judge. That’s why Reclaim has been working tirelessly all spring to build support for the Tenant Bill of Rights (S2417). As we near the finish line of the legislative session, we are going all out to back the Right to Counsel and Just Cause Eviction (S2920/H7960).”
To advance the bills Reclaim RI had a rally outside the Rhode Island State House on Tuesday.
You can watch the video below. The transcript has been edited for clarity:
Representative Cherie Cruz (Democrat, District 58, Pawtucket): Thank you everyone for coming out as tenants, community members, and leaders to advocate in this housing crisis. We know tenants are struggling the most in the state. We need to address the immediate crisis of the imbalance of power among renters and landlords. This is an issue that is very important to me. I have seen, as a tenant organizer with Reclaim Rhode Island, an imbalance that has steadily grown over the last few decades and grown exponentially during covid as evident in the growing number of corporations and real estate developers buying hundreds of units and doubling and tripling rent without any investment in quality or safety.
While we know we need to build more affordable housing, we know this will take years. We need solutions to stop the hemorrhaging, the homelessness, and the lack of stability that 40% of people in the state face every day in Rhode Island's rental market. This is a systemic problem and we need a systemic solution. You heard that 40% of the state is renters, so just imagine the power that we have when we all come together. That's why we need legislation to become law. Like Just Cause Eviction legislation because if a tenant pays their rent and abides by their lease, why are they evicted simply for asking for repairs to meet minimum housing standards? Evicted because the rent is suddenly doubled or tripled without any proof of repairs or improvements? Just Cause Eviction is common sense and this notion that "landowner rights" give a right to retaliate, extort, use predatory practices, and price gouging, is wrong.
This is a business, plain and simple, and as a business, regulations need to be put in place, to protect the public and prevent more children and families from becoming homeless in our state. That's why it's important to implement measures like Just Cause Evictions. Everyone deserves a right to safe housing, free from retaliation, free from harassment. Let's just do the right thing - but what can we do when a landlord does not? This is a public health crisis and the people who have the power to turn the tide in this state are tenants.
It's time to let legislators know that it's time to right the wrongs and fix this broken system.
Senator Tiara Mack (Democrat, District 6, Providence): Do we even believe that people all deserve a safe place to call homes? Do we believe that evictions are cruel punishment for people in a system that doubles their rent?
After the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans felt what the majority of low-income people and minimum-wage workers had already experienced. This world is not stacked up to benefit us. When we had a global pandemic that shut down many industries, for the first time the government put millions of dollars into tenant protections. For the first time in our recent history, we had protections for renters to prevent eviction, because we know that when you have an eviction, you're more likely to be housing insecure, you're more likely to face homelessness, and you're more likely to be caught in that cycle for the rest of your life.
We believe that every single renter deserves the right to fair counsel. We believe that every single tenant deserves clean and fair leases, and we also believe that every single property owner should be held accountable for the health, safety, and housing of every single Rhode Islander that they house in their development. Having access to a right to counsel means that we can prevent more evictions from happening. It means that we can prevent more homelessness and it means that we're putting resources back into our community.
Right now, the average run across Rhode Island is over $2,000. As of this year, there is no longer a city or town in Rhode Island where an average minimum wage worker can afford a two-bedroom rent. At the same time, we still have leaders who refuse to pass renter protections in the middle of a housing crisis.
Rhode Island is five to 10 years away from creating the necessary units we need to meet our housing needs, but we can protect the 40% of renters who live right here in our state with common sense bills like the right to counsel, Just Cause Eviction, and like fair notice bills. All of these protections are easy and quick and can prevent our housing crisis from worsening.
Since the start of the pandemic, homelessness has increased by over 379% in this state. Where do our community members go when they no longer have a roof in any of our cities and towns that they can afford? Where do our workers go when they no longer have a place to call home in the cities where they work? Where do our young people go when they have no schools in their communities because their communities are in the woods? We need to make sure that tenant rights, in addition to the housing package that we have up in the State House, is a top priority for every single legislator in Rhode Island.
We need to sure that we're investing in tenants by passing a right to counsel Bill. We have the money to make sure that no one in our community faces an eviction without just cause and without proper legal counsel. We also have the resources to make sure that no one has their rent doubled on them without fair notice. We also have the resources to make sure that no one in our communities has a landlord who can abuse their power, which is why we need to pass a tenant bill of rights and update our tenant protections which haven't been updated since 1986.
The time is now and tenants have the power. The majority of folks in our community believe in what we believe in. We need your stories inside the State House and we need you to tell the legislators, in both chambers why tenant rights should be the topmost priority this session, not just protecting the people who cannot afford to buy a home, but 40% of Americans who no longer believe that they will own a home within their lifetime. Thank you all for being here and thank you for the countless work of all of the advocates, including Reclaim RI, because without your power we do not have tenant power.
Patrick Crowley Secretary/Treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO: Something is starting to happen in Rhode Island. We believe, when we engage in public policy discussions that by making sure that the people at the top, the big guys, the rich people, the CEO class - that they're the ones that we have to take care of first and everything's going to trickle down. People are starting to get fed up with that line of bullshit because all across this state you're seeing people start to rise up. You're seeing workers starting to fight back. You're seeing tennis starting to fight back.
We're tired of waiting at the bottom for the crumbs to fall off the rich people's tables. One of the reasons we need to fight back against that is to make sure the tenants - 40% of our neighbors are renters - We need to make sure that they have Just Cause Eviction protection because you've got to imagine - What kind of power are we giving to the big shots when they have the power of deciding whether or not you're going to be living in a house tomorrow.? We've got to make sure that they don't have the power to determine whether or not we're homeless, or whether or not we have a job. They've got to be able to demonstrate that if they have a reason, and then prove it.
And you know what? They're not going to be able to prove it if we have the right to counsel because right now the rules are in their favor. The deck is stacked against working-class Rhode Islanders. We're going to change that. We're going to make sure that this state reorients its direction and make sure that we start to pass the laws from the bottom up. That's where we change the rules, from the bottom up.
Melissa Potter, Elmwood Tenant Union: There is no reason why people who are working 40 hours a week or more should not be able to afford a place to live. There is no reason why people living on open construction sites should be paying their full rent when they're living on dangerous property. There are so many reasons why the Tenant Bill of Rights needs to pass. We need to stick together and show all of these people who have never in their lives rented because they don't know the struggle. There are too many entitled people telling us how we need to live and what we need to do. Things need to change and it's going to start with us because as frustrating as things have been, I'm not giving up this battle because we deserve better than we got.
Sam Marvin, UFCW Local 328: We proudly represent grocery store workers, cannabis workers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and cafe workers here in Rhode Island. We're here to send a message that the labor movement stands in solidarity with the tenant movement here in Rhode Island. Something that we ensure is in every single agreement that we negotiate is the just cause provision. That is one of the most important provisions you can put into an agreement because that affords workers the ability to speak up about important issues in the workplace such as safety, health, harassment, bullying, and unfair treatment without the fear of reprisal and retaliation.
And those same core values and protections must and should be afforded to tenants here in Rhode Island and throughout the country. This is something that's been passed in other states and there's no reason why we can't pass it here in Rhode Island as well. We're going to continue to organize. We want to build worker power. Let's build tenant power until we get this done.
Kelly Baxter; tenant and Reclaim RI volunteer: I'm a lifelong Rhode Islander and proud resident of the West End for the past 19 years. I've had the privilege, since about the summertime, to volunteer with Reclaim Rhode Island and I want to start by giving a shout-out to the Elmwood Tenants Union and all the tenants who are taking the time to speak out for housing rights because we currently don't have Just Cause Eviction protections.
The reality is that just by speaking up today, our landlords could retaliate by increasing rent, forcing us out, and terminating our leases. It takes an incredible amount of bravery to speak publicly when the consequence could be losing your home. Cheers to everyone who is taking this risk, especially Stephanie and Melissa [of the Elmwood Tenant Union]. And special thanks to everyone who has been in the long hearings at the State House this session.
We've been waiting hours to testify amongst a sea of shady slumlord companies. I think it's time we stop being polite with them and call them what they are: They're slumlords. There was no shortage of big corporate sloppy slumlord predators and property managers this session and all they did was cry about how basic tenant rights were going to hurt their bottom line. I knew I was actually in for a real treat when I saw that the landlord lobbyist group was run by one of the biggest slumlords in my neighborhood, Rent Prov Realty. They are not housing providers.
At the last hearing for just cause eviction, one of the slumlord companies revealed that when they put a triple-decker on the market, they kick out one of their units. It's more profitable for them to sell the property with a vacancy. Taking away a family's home during a housing crisis is sadistic. There's no better example of why we need just cause protections. These practices create homelessness and more encampments. You can't ignore, evict, and bulldoze this problem away. I'm going to end this by saying human suffering and exploitation should not reap financial awards. Thanks to everyone for having me on board. It's been an emotional and very personal fight.
Representative Cruz: Kelly brought up a good point that many of the tenants who stood up were retaliated against. They were sent eviction notices. [Slumlords] are ruthless. Just like an employer on the job who doesn't give you a fair wage and who tries to fire and terminate you when you speak about safe conditions. That's what tenants out here are going through.
Representative Jennifer Stewart (Democrat, District 59, Pawtucket): I'm so excited and happy to be up here with all of you not asking for a more humane system and more consideration, but demanding a more humane housing system - one that will meet the needs of all Rhode Islanders. The bill that I'm pushing forward in the House is known as Fair Notice (S2189/H7304). My partner in the Senate is Senator Mack. The point of the bill is to give tenants more time when faced with a rent increase to figure out their budgets, figure out their next moves, and see if they can swing the increase, or if the best thing to do would be to move. The bill is demanding a little more humaneness and consideration in the system so that Rhode Islanders can be more stable, households can be more stable, and individual lives can be more stable. That's what we all want for Rhode Island - a state that elevates and makes possible stable lives and stable communities. Let's get fair notice passed and thank you again to all the housing activists and advocates here today. I'm so proud to join in this fight with you.
Diamond; tenant and activist: This is personal. I have mental health issues and conjunctivitis. My church pastor is here, who has watched what I've been through for the last seven years. I've been humiliated, bullied, tortured, you name it. I've been through it and I'm still standing here 10 toes down.
I don't live in Pawtucket anymore, thank God. I'm back in Providence because I'm on a section eight voucher and all I heard from my landlord in Pawtucket was "Move, you're the problem, just move. I'm going to evict you."
My sister came back from a vacation to the Dominican Republic and she illegally just got evicted from her house. She pays her rent. She was a couple of months behind, but something happened with her bank card and she had the money as soon as she got back to the country to give it to him. He asked her when she was coming back. She told him when, and come to find out the day she was flying back to Rhode Island from the Dominican Republic he was in court evicting her. She's lost everything in her life. But the one thing that she has now is understanding.
Not only have I been homeless, I've been addicted to drugs and I've been mentally abused by people - all of it. It's true that if you say things and you're in these conditions, they figure out ways to take your housing from you or they lose your paperwork.
If you talk about it, you will be kept homeless. If you are in a shelter and you're getting ready to get housed and you come to one of these functions, you will lose your shelter bed, any benefits that you have from them, and any chance to get out and have a new life. I'm not scared that my landlord could evict me. My landlord could come and just put me out. I have to go through none of that anymore because I'm in the fight with you.
I've been doing this I don't know for how many years. They think because I have a heart condition they're going to stop me. My landlord gave me this heart condition so I got something to give him back. I'm going to make sure his name goes on that list of slumlords. You may win right now, but I'm going to have the last laugh. I've got the pictures of the apartments that you have not fixed. You keep my security deposit. I don't want that. To me, it's not about the money anymore. I demand respect. Whatever I do in life, I demand my respect. When I go to court with you, I don't want any money. I want you to acknowledge that I'm a mental health patient with heart conditions and I told you this and you bullied me on top of that.
So Mr. Landlord on Merrick Street, if you see this, remember this face. I told you I was going to have the last laugh. I did not know how, but I know now.
We need a bill of rights for this. Just like we have the Homeless Bill of Rights. If we could do that then, we can do this now, because everybody deserves safe, affordable housing with heat and no windows that have cracks in them, doors that don't work, or basements that have mold in them. I'm calling you out. I'm telling you what's wrong with your apartments. I told you nicely.
They didn't name me Diamond for nothing. When I step up, I step out and I shine. I thank you. We got this.
If you don't think about what I'm saying now, drive around Providence and look at what's out there on these streets because we have Mayor Smiley and your husband is a million-dollar investor. When you tear down these campsites, are you getting money for this?
Steve Ahlquist, I need to tell you, from the bottom of my heart, we've been doing this for a minute. I love you. I wish I could have been there when you cornered Mayor Smiley. You did what I couldn't do.
Representative Cruz: Steve's been down with the fight for a long time.
Vivian; Providence Organization of Workers and Renters (POWR): The housing struggle is two-sided. It is a struggle for the poorest of the workers, and it's a struggle for housing. Everyone says we need more housing, that's the only solution, especially for a lot of the landlords. They want to get rich renting you the housing - but we need homes for all. We need public housing. But we're only going to get it if we organize as tenants.
Now here's the thing, we're not going to get that unless we build a really big movement of renters in this state. One of the first places that we could start is in Providence. Providence is 60% renters. We are the majority in Providence. But we're not going to get there just like we're not going to get there with public housing if they don't give us the rights we are demanding - these simple things that the politicians are asking for are humane, decent little things - and the [people in power] don't even want to do that. They're going to have to face the power of organized tenants and rent strikes.
