Thread by @KCTenants

Good morning KC ☀️ RIGHT NOW we are having our monthly meeting with @QuintonLucasKC. Our goal for this meeting is to flex how much PEOPLE POWER we have built since March 💪 and talk about what co-governance can look like

Our leader Steven is recapping our amazing actions this year:
💥I-70 action calling for our governments to #CancelRent
💥 Marching in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter
💥 Following the leadership of our Black comrades to demand #DefundThePolice

💥 Chaining ourselves to the Jackson County Courthouse doors to end evictions and our virtual disruptions
* Judges pushed their hearings until NEXT YEAR because of our work *

@Je_Nay is sharing that we have over 1,500 leaders in our base, and our weekly meetings get around 70 participants each Saturday. Our base has grown across the metro area, and we’re leaders in statewide coalitions across Missouri and Kansas 🌻

How is KC Tenants structured? Basically like this! Read on to learn more about our teams. Interested in joining any of these teams? DM us to plug in so we can build tenant power together 💛

Our Tenant Defense Team is the heart and soul of our in-person and virtual courtroom disruptions and our weekly lit drops. To date, we have delayed over 365 evictions and caused Judge Weir to cancel her ENTIRE EVICTION DOCKER FOR 2020. If we don't get it, #ShutItDown

Our Tenant Network Team (TNT) is DYNAMITE 🧨 We want to build tenant unions across KC. This team is also responsible for #SlumlordSaturday. We’re also looking into cooperative housing as a long-term strategy 🏡

Our Policy Campaign Team is researching and building a strategic campaign around winning a Housing Trust Fund for KC. We have been centering our people with lived experience and stories to create a proposal that works for tenants and their needs. Our proposal will soon be public.

Our Hotline Hotties bring the heat 🔥 Our hotline started in March, and we’re focused on building power with tenants in crisis and directing people to resources. We have talked to almost 1,000 tenants since March. Call [phone] if you want to talk about housing issues ☎️

@Je_Nay is describing “movement co-governance”: once elected, officials should continue to listen to and work with our communities rather than the same old political elites, moneyed interests, etc, to move forward together

Co-governance is about finding ways to ensure people most harmed by structural racism and our profit-drive economy are centered in every step of the governance process. How will @QuintonLucasKC practice co-governance better?

@QuintonLucasKC wants more regular meetings with more grassroots organizations! He "wants to understand our activism better" and wants to find next steps after our "EFFECTIVE" organizing. He's planning to learn more about #CancelRent

@Je_Nay points out that policy proposals like housing trust funds and source of income (SOI) discrimination bans fail when people who directly impacted aren't at the decison-making table. NOTHING FOR US WITHOUT US

Tenants were disappointed when @QuintonLucasKC @DanFowlerKCMO and the Housing Committee left the SOI ban on the cutting room floor immediately before the Tenants Bill of Rights passed. We know KC needs a REAL SOI discrimination ban.

Recent research has shown that evictions have caused as many as 433,700 excess cases of COVID-10 and 10,700 additional deaths between March and September alone. google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc…

The CDC eviction moratorium is expiring 20 days from now. What is @QuintonLucasKC plan to prepare the city for the flood of evictions coming January 1? What is his plan to ACTUALLY address homelessness?

@QuintonLucasKC admits that it is a challenge to get the county courts to actually follow eviction bans. Who do these judges protect? Who do they serve?

@QuintonLucasKC is refusing to promise a meeting between new Presiding Judge Dale Youngs and KC Tenants. Do y'all think Judge Youngs is a tenant? Doubtful. How can he do his job effectively if he doesn't even listen to the people whose lives he is affecting?

We hope that Judge Youngs will extend an eviction moratorium through January. There are hundreds of tenants in KC who will be evicted if leaders fail to take action. @QuintonLucasKC agrees that there is no reason for Jackson County judges to be evicting people under the CDC ban

Time for @TianaCaldwell15 to flex the Gabriel Tower Tenant Union win. @livemillennia has 45 days to “cure” the issues AND bargain with the Tenant Union, but what is @QuintonLucasKC plan if Millenia fails?

@QuintonLucasKC says if they fail, @livemillennia will lose their tax break and probably lose the property. He says we need to develop a backup plan if this happens. NO MORE SLUMLORDS IN KC

@QuintonLucasKC emphasizes that tenants should tell @repcleaver who should be the next Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regional director. Tell him we need a housing champion who works for the TENANTS!

The Gabriel Tower victory shows us that board appointments MATTER. KC Tenants is nominating our leader Ron Clark to fill the empty seat on the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA). Tell @QuintonLucasKC you wanna see Ron on this board!

NEXT STEPS: We hope to hear from @QuintonLucasKC about the set-aside ordinance and SOI next week. We are expecting an official statement from the Mayor by the 22nd advocating for an eviction moratorium. The Mayor will follow up with us by end of next week about LCRA nomination

@DianeCharity1 is teaching us about street cred. "All a man has is his WORD!" From the Tenant Advocate Office to Healthy Homes, it seems like @QuintonLucasKC is letting us down. BUT the Mayor has an opportunity to help the Alps Tenant Union right now

About local slumlords Del Hedgepath, @QuintonLucasKC says "I don't like that kind of thing happening in our city." Then let's DO something about it!