Frequently Asked Questions

What is a tenants union?

A tenant union is a group of tenants who stand together in an organization to use the collective power we hold as renters to fight for dignified housing, affordable rents, and, ultimately, an end to the commodification of housing. While our obligation to pay rent makes us vulnerable and disempowers us as individuals, wielding that identity collectively to threaten landlords’ sources of income is a massive source of power that we can use to win direct improvements to our living conditions. Time and time again, well-organized tenants across the country have demonstrated that collectively mobilizing against landlords, up to and including going on long-haul rent strikes, wins the goods.

A citywide tenant union like ours is a mass organization. Accordingly, the Ann Arbor Tenants Union is composed of several hundred tenants from all sorts of identities, backgrounds, affiliations, and politics, united over our shared structural relationship as renters. Members play a variety of different roles according to their strengths, ranging from informally assisting each other, to campaigning against a specific landlord, to developing a tenant association in a single building, to growing the citywide organization through individual conversations, to researching policy, to planning social media, to writing organizational infrastructure. Every single member is a crucial and indispensable part of this organization.

How do I get involved?

By becoming a member! Please see our page on membership, which will answer this and all other membership-related questions!

Can the AATU help address my legal issue or connect me with a [free] lawyer?

As a tenants union, our first priority is to build a group of tenants fighting rent increases and landlord parasitism across Ann Arbor. We’re also in the early stages of our growth, so our capacity and funding is limited. This means we don’t have lawyers on staff or pro-bono lawyers we work with — we encourage tenants to visit the Resources page if you’re looking for lawyers.

But we’re still eager to help you fight legal struggles of all kinds. Many of us have had our own legal issues and can share the knowledge we have, even if we don’t have law degrees or can represent you in court. Fill out the membership form if you haven’t already and reach out to annarbortenantsunion@gmail.com if you have an urgent inquiry, and we can talk more.

I’m not a renter. Can I still join AATU?

We see “tenant” as broadly defined — anyone in housing they don’t own their place of residence. We invite students in university dorms, those living in hotels or SROs, those who are homeless, subletters, and those in sorority or fraternity housing. We also won’t ever ask you to show your lease to us so we have proof you’re a tenant, or anything like that.

If you’re asking this question because you are unsure if you’re a tenant, we invite you to join one of our regular meetings (our calendar can be seen on the home page, and logistics are sent into our Discord at bit.ly/AATUDiscord) or email us to talk further.

We believe it’s important for union members to be tenants (that’s what we consider a tenants union to be). If you’re a homeowner that simply wants to show support or organize with us, you can offer solidarity dues.

My question is not listed here. What can I do?

You can email us at annarbortenantsunion@gmail.com, or ask it in the AATU Discord bit.ly/AATUDiscord.