OUR RIGHTS, OUR HOMES, OUR FUTURE: A Town Hall to Demand a Tenants' Right to Counsel
This month we're getting ready to turn up the pressure on City Council to push forward on Right to Counsel with a major town hall on August 29th. The theme is Our Rights, Our Homes, Our Future, because that's what Right to Counsel represents. RTC has been one of STUN's policy priorities from the beginning, and through our efforts last year we succeeded in getting a proposal to City Council's Community Involvement Committee. Unfortunately, it's been there ever since, and Committee Chair Callie Carroll has shown no intention of letting it get any further.
The Council has made excuses for letting it stall in committee for a year - they say that it's not in the budget, that the responsibility should fall on someone else, and that the right way to lower the eviction rate is mediation between tenants and landlords. We think it's time for us to remind them that we don't accept those excuses. We have money from the sales tax that they tried and failed to waste on a convention center, mediation will do nothing but waste time and money by prolonging the eviction process, and as for them trying to pass the buck, we simply say no. Callie Carroll has the power to move RTC forward, and if she's not willing to do it then she shouldn't be in the position that she's in. She and the rest of City Council need to be reminded that they should be earning our votes.
Renters are the backbone of Springfield - we're the majority of the city's population, and we do the work that keeps the city running smoothly. We can't let City Council forget that, and that's why we want all of you and your communities at the town hall to show our full strength. Sign up here!
And in case you missed it, our social media team released an awesome video this month discussing the need for Right to Counsel. It's the first in a series, so keep watching our social media feeds for more!
Watch the video on: