Tenant Self-Defense

In collaboration with Zeph Fishlyn and their Office of Neighborship, we led a series of movement workshops teaching participants about tenants’ rights and the nuances of recent rent control legislation. Participants role-play landlords and tenants and learn different self-defense-like dance moves to remember and practice their rights. At the end of each workshop participants break wooden boards naming their own worst fears of housing insecurity. Iterations of the workshop have been held at both Mt. Scott Community Center and at the Schemers, Scammers and Subverters Symposium.

Basic self-defense scenarios:

1. Enforcing necessary repairs
2. Asserting the right to 24 hour notice of landlord inspection
3. Securing relocation assistance in case of no-cause eviction or rent increase
4. Ensuring landlords follow the rules of Oregon state’s recent rent control law

Mt. Scott Community Center
Photos by Anke Schuettler, 2019








Schemers, Scammers and Subverters Symposium