Kansas City Renters Launch Strike Against Predatory Landlords, Demand Federal Rent Cap

Hundreds of tenants in Kansas City, Missouri, have launched a rent strike to protest the state of disrepair of their apartment buildings and demanding protections from corporate landlords. The Tenant Union Federation says renters in North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, South Carolina, Kentucky, Montana and Illinois may soon start withholding their rents in what could become a coordinated, nationwide movement. Rent strikers are also demanding the U.S. government take action, including imposing a federal rent cap. Democracy Now! spoke with one of the striking Kansas City tenants.

Hell Woods: “What’s happening down here to us in Quality Hill Towers isn’t unique. It isn’t special. It isn’t one-off. This is happening to people all across the country. It’s happening to people everywhere in federally backed buildings. If anything, we’re the first of a tenant reckoning. There’s people organizing all across the country, tenant unions organizing all across the country, to get what we need and get what we deserve.”