Los Angeles Tenants Union

Los Angeles Tenants Union
Sindicato de Inquilinos de Los Angeles
FormationJuly 18, 2015 (2015-07-18)
HeadquartersLos Angeles
Members~3000 (2024)
Websitehttps://latenantsunion.org/

The Los Angeles Tenants Union (LATU) (Spanish: Sindicato de Inquilinos de Los Angeles) or LA Tenants Union is an American tenants union, which organizes tenants in the Los Angeles area. It is a bilingual organisation operating in both Spanish and English.[1][2]

As of 2024 the LATU has over 3000 due paying members[3] and 17 chapters (or "locals") across the Los Angeles area.[4] It has been involved in organising numerous successful rent strikes in the Los Angeles area.[3][5]

History

The LATU was co-founded in 2015 by Tracy Rosenthal and Leo Vilchis. Since then the LATU has been involved in various organising efforts, lobbying campaigns and protests for tenants rights.[6] The LATU has a history of working with other left wing grassroots organisations, such as the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Mariachi Plaza Rent Strike

On June 1st 2017, tenants of the Mariachi Plaza building in Boyle Heights went on rent strike after being organised by Los Angeles Tenants Union organisers. After months of striking and protesting, on February 12th 2018 the tenants and the buildings landlord signed a collective bargained lease.[7][8][9][10] This was the first ever collectively bargained lease in Los Angeles history.[3]

The Mariachi Plaza rent strike would be the first successful rent strike of many. There were over half a dozen rents strikes organised by the Los Angeles Tenants Union between 2016 and 2019.[11][12]

Abolish Rent

Abolish Rent - How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis
AuthorTracy Rosenthal and Leo Vilchis
PublisherHaymarket Books
Publication dateFebruary 1, 2025
Pages224
ISBN979-8-888-902523

In 2024 Tracy Rosenthal and Leo Vilchis published the book Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can Solve the Housing Crisis. The book documents the history of the Los Angeles Tenants Union, as well as arguing and advocating for tenants to organise themselves to create a world where rent itself is abolished.[13][14][15][16] The book and its contents has been influential on the broader tenants union movement. Because of the book, the Australian tenants union Renter and Housing Union adopted "abolition of rent" as one their objectives.[17]

Hillside Villa Rent Strike

In 2025, a deal was struck to end a building rent strike in Chinatown. Organised by the LATU, the tenants stopped paying rent and began a rent strike in late 2020. The strike went for 5 years, and is one of the longest recorded rent strikes in history.[18]

Opposition to ICE

Since 2025 the union has been heavily involved with campaigns to oppose escalated deportation raids in Los Angeles.[19] With the LATU calling for a city wide rent strike and a moratorium on evictions as due to the escalation of deportation raids.[18][20]

Organisation

The Los Angeles Tenants Union itself is not a registered non-for-profit. Instead it acts as a over arching organisation to facilitate a decentralised network for various local member lead chapters across Los Angeles.[4] These chapters organise volunteers to organise on local issues, conduct outreach, and work with the community.[21] Tenants organised in buildings are organised as tenant associations, which are then affiliated to the local chapters. [1]

The union also has various committees that help assist and organise the union itself.[21]

See Also

References

  1. 1 2 "About". Los Angeles Tenants Union. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  2. ↑ Smith, Talia (2021). Tenants versus Housing: The Los Angeles Tenants Union's Narrative of the Housing Crisis (Thesis). University of Nebraska.
  3. 1 2 3 Rosenthal, Tracy; Vilchis, Leonardo (2024). Abolish rent: how tenants can solve the housing crisis. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarket Books. ISBN 979-8-88890-252-3.
  4. 1 2 "Locals". Los Angeles Tenants Union. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  5. ↑ Union, LA Tenants (2019-02-22). "A Victory for Burlington Unidos and the Largest Rent-Strike in LA History". Medium. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  6. ↑ Hunter, Matthew (2023-10-04). "Los Angeles Tenants Union: Stop gentrifying Los Angeles!". People's World. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  7. ↑ "A Boyle Heights Rent Strike Forged a Path for Other Tenants to Fight Back". theLAnd. 2019-02-05. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  8. ↑ Plotnikova, Sasha. "Hammer It Home". New York Review of Architecture. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  9. ↑ Gowing, Samantha (2022-03-01). "Rent Strikes and Tenant Power: Supporting Rent Strikes in Residential Landlord-Tenant Law". Michigan Law Review. 120 (5): 877–912. doi:10.36644/mlr.120.5.rent. ISSN 0026-2234.
  10. ↑ Moatasim, Faiza (2024). "Direct Action at Home: Performative Spaces of Tenant Resistance in Los Angeles". Antipode. 56 (6): 2253–2272. doi:10.1111/anti.13075. ISSN 1467-8330.
  11. ↑ Kuznia, Rob (2018-06-02). "Los Angeles tenants increasingly engaging in rent strikes amid housing crisis". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  12. ↑ Tso, Phoenix (2025-07-01). "Chinatown tenants win legal battle after rent strike". LA Public Press. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  13. ↑ "From Policy as Technocratic Exercise to "Way Station of Tenant Power"". Spectre Journal. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  14. ↑ "The Best Tool to Solve the Housing Crisis". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  15. ↑ Abraham, Roshan (2024-10-10). "LA Tenants Union Founders Call on Renters to Fight Back". Shelterforce. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  16. ↑ "Tenants Rise Up | Oksana Mironova". The Baffler. 2024-09-23. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  17. ↑ "Objectives of RAHU". Renters and Housing Union. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  18. 1 2 Tso, Phoenix (2025-07-01). "Chinatown tenants win legal battle after rent strike". LA Public Press. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  19. ↑ "'COWARDS! COWARDS! COWARDS!': Los Angeles Votes Down A Policy To Protect People From ICE". HuffPost. 2026-02-20. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  20. ↑ By (2025-10-31). "An Eviction Moratorium Against ICE?". jacobin.com. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
  21. 1 2 Los Angeles Tenants Union (2019). L.A. TENANTS UNION TENANT HANDBOOK (PDF). Vol. 2. Los Angeles Tenants Union.
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