After tenants made progress in getting their concerns about living conditions and policies addressed by overseers of their federally subsidized apartment complexes, a citywide union for tenants of public and private rental housing is launching in a few days.

Colorado Springs Tenants will meet from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday at First Congregational Church, 20 E. St. Vrain St., with food and child care provided.

The group is operating under the auspices of Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership and is the first of its kind in the city, said Max Kronstadt, founder and executive director of Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership.

“It represents a microcosm for a growing national movement addressing the affordability crisis, calling for the establishment of tenants as a political and economic class that cannot be ignored,” he said.

Saturday’s event is open to the public and will feature speeches by representatives from each of the founding chapters, adoption of a combined structure, ratification of a constitution, information on renters’ rights and networking.

The launch formally joins together five entities: Acacia Park Tenants Association, Centennial Plaza Tenants Association, Aviator Apartments Tenant Union, Mill Street Community Benefits for All Coalition and one at-large chapter for renters in other facilities or neighborhoods.

The group has been working on uniting its work for more than a year, Kronstadt said.

Last October, some of those affiliated demonstrated outside the Colorado Springs Housing Authority’s offices, calling on the agency to bargain with tenants at the Centennial Plaza Apartments, who wanted changes. Negotiations are ongoing, but some of their requests have been fulfilled, according to organizers.

Management of Aviator Apartment Homes did not respond to requests for comment after a majority union launched last November at the private complex, which the Cardinal Group of Denver manages. The Colorado Springs Housing Authority has responded to requests for comment about local tenant groups in its buildings, with managers saying they consider requests and work with groups as warranted.

Five delegates have been elected from each founding chapter for a total of 25 to kick off the new union, Kronstadt said.

“We had to have a real base of folks committed to this project to establish this structure citywide,” he said. “It took a greater understanding of what we need to build power for greater housing justice, and we’ve learned it’s most effective for people suffering in the housing crisis to have and build power together.”

The new group “seeks to organize residents in Colorado Springs in their buildings and neighborhoods,” under the belief that “all should have control over their housing,” he said, through strategizing, collective bargaining, demonstrating and calling for change.

Efforts by individual chapters have resulted in safety and security improvements in their buildings, such as installing brighter lighting and hallway video cameras, along with changes to how grievances are handled and the timely completion of repairs.

“Organizing tenants through the citywide model is going to allow us to help people pick the most intimate battle of their lives –– that for safe, secure, and affordable housing –– and connect their struggle to others doing the same thing throughout the city,” Will Smith, lead organizer for Colorado Springs Tenants, said in a statement.

Through membership, tenants will meet regularly to collectively determine strategy, elect leadership and divide up resources, Kronstadt said. 

“Decisions about housing and housing policy have been driven by landlords and developers to use their power to profit off our housing system, and tenants have had no say,” he said. “The formation of a citywide tenants union says they’re getting organized and exerting their political power.”

The union’s ultimate goal is for the city to accept housing as a fundamental human right and decommodify it, to “give residents control over the places they live,” according to its vision statement.