About Us

Who We Are

CHTU is an autonomous, democratic union of tenants who live in Crown Heights and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Founded in 2013 by a multiracial, multi-generational group of tenants who believed that long term and new tenants needed to come together to collectively fight gentrification, harassment, displacement, disrepair, and illegal rent overcharges. Membership is made up of individual tenants and building-wide tenant associations – no landlords or agents of landlords allowed. Member funded and member-run, we maintain financial and political independence from government officials, developers, and nonprofits. This enables us to remain accountable, first and foremost, to each other and fellow tenants in the neighborhood. Non-hierarchical, we make decisions democratically at our general membership meetings, in our committees, and in our buildings.

Why We Fight

Seeking greater profits, developers and landlords squeeze working-class tenants in two directions. First, they displace longstanding tenants, especially Black, Brown, and elderly neighbors, by harassing them, exploiting landlord-friendly laws, raising rents through legal and illegal means, and refusing to do repairs. Second, they systematically overcharge the new tenants who take their place. Overcharges continue the cycle of displacement by accelerating tenant turnover and raising average rents across the neighborhood.