Tenants Organize in Long Branch

“We now have an association that unites us to work together as a family,” shared Teshome Buta,  speaking about the Park Montgomery Residents Council (PMRC). Teshome is president of the newly formed tenant association at Park Montgomery apartments in Long Branch. Congratulations go out not only to the members of PMRC’s Executive Committee (Teshome Buta, Fantanesh Melaku, Rafael King, Kedir Hassen, Patience Woode, Joseph King, Elias Abdulahi, Belayneh Zewdie, and Fiona Nyamira), but to all the residents of Park Montgomery who have shown tremendous support for the organizing effort—even in the face of ongoing challenges at their complex.

Across the nation, tenant organizing is on the rise. Here in Montgomery County, as tenants face poor living conditions and skyrocketing rents (even with a rent cap between 3% – 6%, depending on inflation, that will go into effect sometime this year), the desire to unionize is happening here as well. And it’s no surprise. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, tenant organizing is a way to rebalance power and exert more influence on decision-makers, helping renters push back against existing social structures and improve their quality of life.

IMPACT is proud of the newly established PMRC and the supportive role we’ve played in its creation. Through the years, IMPACT’s Senior Network Builder Sara Mussie has formed strong relationships with residents at the complex. Her work leading parent and youth development programming and a family asset-building initiative at the complex helped forge lasting ties with residents.

When tenants were challenged by poor living conditions and unresponsive property managers, Sara connected them to county agencies and government representatives (shout-out to Delegate Lorig Charkoudian and Councilmember Kate Stewart and their staff!) who could intervene and help. Most recently, when a small group of residents came to her for assistance in launching the tenant association, Sara provided coaching and connected the group to local nonprofit Montgomery County Renters Alliance for helpful technical assistance in creating bylaws.

Sara continues to provide coaching support to the Executive Committee as they work to recruit more tenants to join the PMRC which currently has 59 members. Right now, the group’s most urgent focus is on working with property managers to solve long-standing issues at the complex around parking, broken elevators, and crime. But the new association has residents feeling optimistic. During a recent Zoom meeting of the PMRC, one of the tenants emphatically declared, “We will come together and win this and thrive!”