On September 11, apartment resident leaders in Corcoran voted to formalize our neighborhood’s tenant organizing efforts into an open Tenants’ Council, or La junta de inquilinos.
All renters in Corcoran are encouraged to attend. The group will discuss shared concerns and organize a united front of families taking leadership actions to ensure our neighborhood’s housing is healthy and of quality, accessible, affordable and stable. Leaders will report actions to and receive support from CNO’s Board of Directors.
What: Tenants’ Council meeting
Date: Wednesday, October 22
Time: 6:00-7:30pm
Location: Room 114 at MPS Adult Education building, 2225 E Lake Street
The Tenants’ Council has voted that its first priority goal is to challenge and/or lower the emerging practice of ratio utility bills for gas and water. These bills, on top of rent, have wrecked family budgets, resulted in evictions, and have not improved building energy efficiency.
The Council’s second goal is be to continue obtaining needed home repairs. Tenants’ conversations with and letters to property management and the City of Minneapolis have yielded substantial improvements to apartment buildings. These include replacement of long-broken air conditioners; fumigation for pests; building exteriors and hallways have been repainted; and torn carpet has been replaced for some select units.
The last voted goal of the Tenants’ Council will be to take actions that improve systems related to rental housing in Minneapolis. At the Sept 11 meeting, leaders Reyna, Edain and Socorro all voiced that it is not enough to ensure that just their families have better housing. Each leader committed to further expand the Council’s base of engaged households in order to have greater community power to reform policies and business models that affect residents who rent. One of the largest landlords in Minneapolis is already responding. The Apartment Shop has hired a Spanish speaking office staff member after a tenant driven petition.
For more info about the Tenants’ Council contact Ross Joy at 612-724-7457 or ross@corcoranneighborhood.org. All community members can also get involved and lead on local issues by attending our neighborhood’s monthly Land Use & Housing Committee, which meets on the first Thursday of every month (next on October 2 at 6:00pm at 3451 Cedar Ave S).
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