If the City Council route fails, EFZ suggests that tenants use existing tenant and consumer laws to challenge landlords for not providing adequate housing.
Tenants can sue landlords for health code violations such as not providing window screens or adequate heat, or for misrepresentation, such as not providing an advertised parking spot.
"All these things are worth money," Cavellini says. "It's a combination of using tenant-protection laws that continue to exist on the state level and tenants working together to bargain for a better position."
Often the threat of a lawsuit will prompt landlords to grant concessions, he says.
Only as a last resort do the organizers use direct action tactics such as marches and rallies, they say.
"At times we have been confrontational," Cavellini says. "We know that to sustain a good direct action campaign takes a lot of time, effort and people, so we try to negotiate where possible."
But rallies do serve a purpose, Cavellini says--they establish a community presence and attract members.
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