Become a member today

Stand with your fellow tenants by filling out the membership form.

Why should I be a member?

The housing crisis in Ann Arbor is out of control. We believe that only a mass movement of organized tenants can win lower rents and dignified living conditions. We cannot sit back and wait for nonprofits, government agencies, developers, or landlords to act; tenants must organize ourselves.

As a member, you won't face your landlord alone. When pests go ignored, roofs drip, rents jump, or leases get cut early — fellow AATU members will be there to yell alongside you, help you find legal support, and mobilize your neighbors so your landlord never gets away with doing this again.

A collective of tenants that act together in this way can wield real power. Each of us pays rent each month, which constitutes a major burden to us and is a major way landlords hold power over tenants. But that's the source of our power too -- landlords need our rent, and they need it badly. Thus, just as the organized workplace can wield the power and threat of the labor strike, so too can we as tenants organize around a rent strike. Landlords have conceded and will continue to concede to the demands of tenants when they know that the consequence may be economically disastrous for them.

Crucially, that leverage only exists if tenants can act collectively around a set of shared demands. A single renter's actions may be seen as a rounding error, but landlords have to answer to an entire building of tenants threatening to withhold rent together.

What should I do once I become a member?

First, join the AATU Discord: bit.ly/AATUDiscord (our membership form should direct you to this after you fill it out). This group chat is our primary home for day-to-day conversations and updates. If you prefer not to download a new app or join a new chat, that’s okay, there are other ways to keep up and get caught up that are listed here.

Second, meet with an AATU organizer to talk about your experience as a renter and what you’re interested in organizing around with your fellow renters. We try to reach out to everyone that fills out the form proactively, but if you haven’t heard from us in a few weeks or would like to meet sooner, please send us a message at annarbortenantsunion@gmail.com.

That conversation with an existing organizer should hopefully identify paths for you within AATU that are right for you. But generally, we recommend a few options, most valuable being listed first:

• Get to know other members of the AATU — it’s most important for us as tenants seeking to effect change to create a strong and tight-knit community of organizers that can support each other in the fight.
• Talk with your immediate neighbors. For the most part, we’re isolated in our own complexes, and need to rebuild the social bonds that have been robbed from us by parasites (landlords) in order to build effective unions.
• Join the AATU organizing committee. As a coordinating group within AATU generally, we share strategies across complexes and work together on citywide campaigns. This group is our most important formation for expanding the AATU and building tenant power.
• Join a different subcommittee. AATU’s bread and butter is complex-level organizing that requires folks to simply talk to each other and to their neighbors, but we are an ambitious org with many needs — we need social media content, people knowledgeable with finance, people who are willing to lead legislative priorities, people to build strong relationships with other organizations, and so on.

What are my duties as part of the union?

Becoming a member fundamentally is a commitment to your fellow tenants of Ann Arbor that you stand alongside them in our fight for a dignified home and community, and against the bad actor landlords that exploit tenants for personal gain. It’s a recognition that as tenants, we share interests; we all want dignified and affordable housing, and we’re all dealing with landlords who use the same tactics to deny us the housing we deserve.

AATU strives to be a democratic, member run organization. AATU members vote on major decisions of the union. More importantly, as an AATU member your active participation in our organizing work will shape the direction and capacity of our union as we work together to build tenant power in Ann Arbor.

Lastly, members are encouraged to make regular donations via our PayPal. Our power as a tenants union comes from bringing our talents, resources, and leverage as individuals into formations together. Donations are one way to do so. Read more on our Donations Page.