Milwaukee Autonomous Tenants Union
Amara Lang is an organizer with the Milwaukee Autonomous Tenants Union (MATU), a volunteer-led organization that fights to ultimately end the commodification of housing. Their work reflects that housing should be a human right and not be developed for-profit since shelter is a necessity for survival. Through direct action they work toward community control of housing, to overturn evictions, and to challenge negligent landlords in getting demands met. The organization formed at the beginning of quarantine and has been an instrumental force on behalf of renters in Milwaukee.
So, Amara, why did you join MATU?
I actually got involved with a separate group that was doing rent strike organizing, and I tried to organize my building actually, but that really wasn’t going to work unless we could get the majority. I ended up organizing about a quarter of the people, which was really great because we got repairs made, but I discovered MATU in the process. We had dry rot in the windows, leaky ceilings, black mold, and a myriad of other issues; we finally got new windows and our building up to code. I want to say I joined in May of last year. The more people that join up, frankly, the better chance we have at winning. Landlords may have the money but renters make up the majority of Milwaukee.
That said, I’ve heard tales from MATU organizers about landlords using the pandemic to take advantage of tenants like it’s a profit opportunity. What are some horror stories you’ve heard?
Well, as you’ve seen, rents have been skyrocketing. There’s this thing that landlords do—artificial scarcity—where they buy up a number of properties and raise up the prices. They’ll set application fees that are non-refundable, sometimes in the hundreds of dollars. We try to get tenants to contact us sooner than later but unfortunately there are some that have become homeless. Illegal evictions have become common; tenants don’t even know their rights. Landlords will change locks, harass you, neglect repairs, and even pull shenanigans just to get tenants out of the building. The rental assistance program is really dependent on if your landlord even accepts the money; we’ve had tenants where their landlord says no and goes forward with the eviction. Credit reports are a really big one that limits a lot of people from getting housing; it really affects all renters but especially Black, Brown, and working-class renters. It hasn’t been great, but we have made some wins.
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What does a win for MATU look like? I mean, for one, you’re obviously keeping somebody housed. But what does keeping somebody housed from a legal standpoint look like?
We’re a direct action agency so we get involved by talking to tenants about their situation and then we always first ask if they’ve tried engaging with the landlord first. We usually just start with an email to the landlord; occasionally that’s enough. There was one case where we had a landlord in the middle of the night pick up an old TV that someone had thrown out on the side, and he actually threw it at the side of his property. The tenant had called the police on him, wondering “who’s throwing stuff at my house?” and he got cited but then he gave her an eviction notice the next day. We got involved there, sent the landlord an email, and he realized he’d gotten caught in a retaliatory eviction which is illegal in Wisconsin. That’s a case where an email was enough.
Sometimes it escalates to a letter. Recently we had someone who moved into a place and quickly discovered that it was infested with bed bugs, roaches, rats, and mice. The landlord kept coming over with bodyguards—unannounced—which a 12-hour notice is required by law as well. He was harassing her; he beat up his wife in front of her as a form of intimidation. A letter was enough to get him to finally address the problem with a professional exterminator rather than poisoning her and her family every day.
We’ve done in-person demand delivery letters where a handful of us go with the tenant to the landlord’s place, because often landlords will try pulling the “I never got the email” or “I never got the letter” stunt. So we’ll go in person, record it, and hand them the letter with our demands. That’s worked because they don’t want to get exposed on social media.
Sometimes we’ll build up to phone blasts, text message blasts, email blasts, and then finally a full-blown picket. We’ve also protested the city, which was instrumental in getting the right to counsel passed.
What is MATU working on now?
Lately our biggest thing was getting the CDC to at the very minimum keep the eviction moratorium going, which was still far from perfect. With tenants across the nation we were able to keep that extended, but that lapsed, so we’re talking about what to do next. We recently worked with Voces de la Frontera and Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) on a housing justice rally to get $200 million of the ARPA funds to be used for affordable housing.
It’s good to keep that momentum going. The threat is still at large. If a tenant is facing the threat of eviction, what’s the best way to get in touch with MATU?
They can call us directly at 414-410-9714. Otherwise we have our email; the main one we’ve been using is outreach@matunion.org. We’re a direct-action agency but we also tell people to reach out to community advocates right away and we provide them information about legal aid. One of the tactics that me and several organizers like to use is to throw everything at the wall and get as many people in your corner as you can. That helps us always have a backup.
If someone wants to get involved with the organizing itself, what should they do?
Same thing—contact us. We would love for people to join; the big thing is that we’re not just another big agency that helps you and then goes. We’re a union. We want people to stay. The more of us that come together, the better. You can fight your individual situation, but chances are you’re going to deal with another landlord later on and you’ll run into similar issues. So, the best thing to do is to join up together.
For more information about Milwaukee Autonomous Tenants Union, visit their website at Milwaukee Autonomous Tenants Union – For Safe and Just Housing (matunion.org).
