While 31% of housing in Puerto Rico are rentals, tenants rights are far from realization. Families face insecure housing conditions, exploitation, forced evictions, illegal rent raises, and even sexual harassment and violences. Unscrupulous landlords discriminate against tenants based race, sex, condition as domestic violence survivors, family status, and national origin. Legal empowerment projects that promote legal awareness while accompany families in courts and advocacy is much urgent.
Even though 31% of the housing units in Puerto Rico are rentals, the lack of social infrastructure to advocate for tenants' rights is a challenge for women, children, elders, immigrants, and other historically marginalized groups. Factors such as the belief that renters "are under temporary living arrangements," cannot afford a real home," or "must be making bad financial decisions if they opt for housing," together with policies that guarantee summary evictions, promote housing insecurity.
Since 2020, our program Alquileres Dignos has promoted legal empowerment among renters in public and private housing. We encourage legal awareness with materials, community brigades, and open workshops designed to shift the narrative around renters' rights. We also accompany families to court, defending those at risk of eviction and changing statistics that, as of today, state that more than 94% of renters go to court without legal representation. We also advocate for housing justice for tenants
Our goal is for tenants to know that they also have a right to dignified housing and feel empowered to defend their families and demand adequate living conditions. Access to justice is not a luxury and should never be conditioned to the living arrangements of families, but a mechanism to ensure the protection of housing for all.
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