Greenspoint Tenants Confront Abusive Property Management in Houston

Action report and march on landlord from Houston Tenants Union in so-called Houston, Texas.

On Friday December 9th, tenants near the Greenspoint neighborhood delivered demands to their property management and landlord. Tenants rallied around 5PM and marched to the property management’s office, who came outside only to say that they refused to speak with the tenants. However, the refusal to communicate and work with tenants is part of what is driving these tenants to action in the first place! Tenants are demanding an immediate end to false accusations involving HPD, harsh financial obligations, abuse of power, poor parking, untimely maintenance requests, and more.

One of the major grievances comes from tenants who have paid rent through rental assistance, some of whom are now being threatened with eviction. When the new management took over, rental assistance was denied with no justification given. This is unfortunately all too common with Texas’s prohibitive rent relief, which is easy for landlords to abuse. Tenants are demanding those on rental assistance have their current outstanding balance waived and all eviction cases currently being pursued against said residents be dropped.

Tenants have also experienced retaliation already when trying to communicate with management to pay rent or request repairs. However, there is power in a union! Tenants reached out to their neighbors, and now our neighborhood local, GASH (Greenspoint Aldine Spring Acres Homes) stands with them to remind the landlord and management that retaliation is illegal and unjust, and will not be tolerated. Tenants set a deadline of Monday, December 12th for demands to be met, or they will escalate their campaign.

This fight is just getting started. Please check back for more updates as we get closer to the deadline. The landlord still has time to make this right, agree to meet the tenants demands, and provide the tenants with the safe, secure and habitable home that they have paid for! If you have had enough of your landlord and want to do something about it, please join us to fight back.

Houston Tenants Union is an organization of tenants in Houston, Texas, committed to collective direct action, independence and rank-and-file democracy. Houston Tenants Union launched in June 2019, initiated by tenant organizers who were previously a part of Southwest Defense Network, Third Ward Defense Network, 2100 Memorial Campaign, Industrial Workers of the World – General Defense Committee, and other housing/tenant and labor movement work.