Here to Stay: Building a Tenant Association Against Displacement

Abstract

The Flower Drive Tenants Association (La Asociación de inquilinos de Flower Drive) is an entire block of tenants organising against displacement in South Central Los Angeles. Members of the Los Angeles Tenants Union since March 2021, Flower Drive tenants have fought to stay put in the face of a multi-billion dollar development plan to replace hundreds of rent controlled apartments with luxury housing. In the process they have transformed their block of working class Black and Latino tenants into what one comrade described as a “semillero” – a seedbed of tenant organising across South Central Los Angeles. The señoras who lead the Flower Drive TA have also turned their weekly meeting into a co-learning space for the wider community. As many as 60 tenants from across South Central LA gather each week in a parking lot behind the Flower Drive buildings to discuss their rights, share their experiences, and plan direct actions. Tenants support each other through protesting landlords, reversing lockouts, and even confronting domestic abusers. Tenants have also begun to discuss their deeper political conditions, drawing connections to popular land struggles across the world.