In February 2023, 20 locally-based, areawide tenant organizing coalitions with deep organizing experience in privately-owned, federally assisted housing came together as the Leaders and Organizers for Tenant Empowerment (LOFTE) Network, in response to the Biden Administration's Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights.  The Network developed policy recommendations for the White House, HUD and the Treasury Department, to advance Tenants Rights in federally-assisted subsidized housing.  LOFTE forwarded these recommendations to the Administration on April 2, 2023, with attachments on tenants rights in Low Income Housing Tax Credits; HUD Multifamily Housing; and HUD funds for tenant organizing.

The Network includes the oldest and most experienced independent organizing projects in HUD Multifamily and low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) subsidized developments nationwide. You can find a list of the LOFTE Network groups here. 

Since April 2023, LOFTE has made Tenant Leaders and Organizers' voices heard through:

  • Three national conference calls in July 2023, January and August 2024 with HUD's Office of Multifamily Housing, winning results for tenants in substandard housing in New Jersey, Arkansas, Baltimore, Atlanta and nationwide;
  • Won reduction of HUDs intrusive requirement owners to demand six months' bank statements for Income Verification for millions of families, from six months to one month's statement only, in October 2023;
  • Helped develop and file the Right to Organize Act with Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) in September 2023 to extend an enforceable Right to Organize to 5.5 million Tax Credit and Voucher tenants;
  • Worked with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) to  develop and file the Right to Organize Act in the Senate in September 2024
  • Filed comments with FHFA to extend tenants rights to more than 12 million tenants in buildings with federally assisted mortgages
  • Won important clarifications to HUD's advertisement of $10 million for the Tenant Empowerment Opportunity grant for tenant empowerment
  • Held a first ever national meeting between Low Income Housing Tax Credit tenants and organizers with Treasury Department leaders and the White House to extend tenants' rights to LIHTC buildings
  • Joined the White House policy dialogue with national tenants organizations

 

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