Who We Are

Madison Tenant Power (founded in 2019) is a tenant union formed by and for tenants to defend our rights to dignity and healthy living. A "tenant" is anyone who is not in control of their own housing.

We are a "people-powered" organization. We are not service providers, but are all tenants united to support ourselves and each other. All tenants are welcome to join our membership.

Read more about our principles of unity here.

How We Fight

The History of Tenants in Madison

Madison used to have a powerful tenant union called Madison Tenant Union (MTU), which operated from 1969 to 1985. Madison Tenant Union adopted a labor-union model of organizing, organizing tenants into unions that would engage in collective bargaining using a variety of tactics including rent strikes to fight for tenants’ rights. The union was a non-profit; the landlord lobby ultimately successfully dismantled the union by attacking its funding sources.

The relationship between landlords and tenants has always been fraught. What’s more, historical race covenants have had a lingering impact on patterns of property ownership in Wisconsin.

Madison has historically had tenant protections that protected renters from displacement. State-wide preemption laws passed in 2011 have significantly limited tenants’ legal rights in Madison.

The Future We Hope For

Our Vision

• good social, affordable housing

• walkable neighborhoods safe for kids and for single moms

• tenant control over their own spaces

• representation by a tenant union

• rental buildings that are publicly owned and managed, administered by a tenant advisory board

Our Immediate Goals

• Repeal of the state-level ban on rent control and other pro-tenant legislative measures

• Implement rent control measures and strong tenant protections

• Lower rental prices and protection against rent profiteering / rent extortion

• No more state intervention in local landlord-tenant issues.

Our Long-term Goals

• Housing will be free and good quality because it is a human right and a necessity.

• We will build a resilient community of tenants who know each other and work together, creating closely connected communities who feel empowered to enforce their rights.

• We will coordinate cross-sector organization to support workers and working families: labor organizing, neighborhood organizing, tenant organizing.

• We will build bridges between various zones of struggle, connecting housing justice to black liberation, abolition, women’s liberation, queer liberation, and reproductive justice. More solidarity, more community. 

Tenant power!