This week marks a year of our tenant union organizing work and just over six months since our first union launch. We’re celebrating with an overhauled website and social media presence, an update on our work to date, and major escalations with our unions and organizing drives.
Read on for details. And, if you can, help us celebrate by becoming a monthly donor, and encouraging your family, friends and neighbors to join our newsletter.
New Website is Live
We’re excited to share that tacomatenants.org has a new look! The new site has been months in the making, and we’re grateful to Felt Left Co. for their creativity, generosity, and thoughtful partnership.
The new site makes it easier to connect with tenant union organizers, follow campaigns throughout the city, and access organizing and legal resources through our intake form. Whether you’re facing an issue with your landlord, interested in joining a tenant union, or just looking for ways to get involved, our website is for you!
Please take a look around the new site — then share the link with your neighbors, colleagues, family, and friends. We hope this new website makes it easier for people to find each other and organize for the housing justice we all deserve.
Not sure where to start? Check out some key pages with the buttons below:
WE’RE A YEAR IN!
LOTS TO SHOW AND MORE TO GO!
Our organizing formally started on July 1st last year, when our partner organization Tacoma For All brought on Devin Rydel Kelly to direct tenant organizing, amidst a nationwide wave of tenant union victories.
But it was New York Apartments that sparked the movement
New York Apartments launched Tacoma’s first tenant union, December 6, 2025.
NYA residents were facing years of neglected buildings, mistreatment from landlords, and a new property management company driving up rents while using unresponsive AI slop. Their self-organizing leaders reached out for support, and Tacoma’s modern tenant union movement was born.
The supermajority NYATU launched in December of 2025. Since then, we’ve organized unions covering the portfolio of their wealthy, California-based landlords Rob Hoover, Candace Hoover and Ann Limbourne. The New York, Newcastle and North Slope Tenant Unions represent over 70 percent of the landlord’s residents, controlling over $50,000 in monthly rent. They are passionate, serious, and ready to escalate.
In April, they were joined by the McIlvaine Tenant Union, whose members came together over the exploitative Ratio Utility Billing System (RUBS) and illegal rent increases, reaching 100% membership in their small but mighty building.
McIlvaine leaders and other members at their April 11, 2026 union launch.
Just like the Hoover Portfolio, they are powerful leaders with a deep commitment to fighting for their members and Tacoma’s working class.
We now have close to 125 union card signers and active or emerging campaigns in 12 buildings. Many member leaders are running organizing committees, knocking doors, and escalating. Two leaders are now on our (recently renamed) Tacoma Tenant Organizing and Outreach (TTOO) Board of Directors, and one is on the Tacoma For All Steering Committee. Many more will surely develop soon. There is power in the union.
We have big plans for the coming year! We’ve already beat back illegal rent increases, blocked evictions, and forced landlords to provide long overdue maintenance, but we still have to win big around our members’ core demands, which is the most important thing we can do for them and the broader movement. We’re also launching another supermajority tenant union soon, and we’ll host a founding convention for a citywide tenant union in late 2026 or early 2027.
Tacoma Tenants will win if our majority working class knows and acts on their power. So please, support the movement today. Get your family, friends and neighbors on our newsletter list. Fill out our intake form if you are serious about organizing your building. And, if you’re able, please make a monthly contribution to the movement. There is power in the union!
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