Bridget Moran Place — Welcome to the VTU!

@TANets has formally made BMPTA a member of The Vancouver Tenants Union. The following is the offical welcome letter from the VTU.

Bridget Moran Place —

Thank you for being the newest member of the Vancouver Tenants Union!

The VTU started in 2017, and now represents over 2,500 members across the Lower Mainland. Over those years, we’ve learned a lot, and we’re happy to share those lessons. Hopefully this email can be your two-minute guide!

Quick Website Links

• Member Handbook
• Getting Involved
• Rights & Resources

Our focus as a union is organizing direct actions in our neighbourhoods. What does that mean? It means bringing individuals together in support of our shared goals, demonstrating our collective power, and improving our communities. This could mean putting on a potluck to get to know your neighbours. It could mean signing a group letter demanding the landlord fix the heat in the apartment down the hall. Showing up to protest a landlord’s harassment of fellow tenants. Putting on an educational workshop. Making a community garden. At the end of the day, most of us simply want a safe and stable place to call home, and there are countless ways to move in that direction.

So how can you help with that mission? There are a lot of ways to get involved! A lot of it happens at the neighbourhood, or “chapter” level, which is based on where you live. If you’re not sure which one you’re a member of, take a look at our chapter map! If you’re not in an existing chapter, you can participate in the chapter closest to you, and maybe even run one in your neighbourhood someday…

There’s also a lot going on at the union level! There are several “working groups”, which are like clubs that organize around specific interests. They handle things like social media, designing workshops, creating tools and resources for members, and other aspects of keeping the Union alive and healthy! Any member can join and get involved in a working group that interests them. We also have a General Meeting every couple of months or so; they are opportunities to meet members from across neighbourhood boundaries, share successes, and learn from each other.

Are you going through a situation with your landlord right now? A lot of us were when we first learned about the VTU. As a member-run and volunteer-based organization, we’re not professional advocates or lawyers. However, we can tell you about the important rights you have as a tenant, and provide information gathered from years of experiences organizing and standing up for our rights.

You might be wondering what the next steps are. Well, I’m glad you asked! Most of our communication happens on Slack, a messaging website / app. If you reply to this email and ask for a Slack invite, we’ll send one along so you can get signed up! There are “channels” so each chapter and working group can have their own discussions. We do ask that you familiarize yourself with the Code of Conduct if you’ll be participating in those conversations. You can also check out the events page for upcoming meetings, workshops, and other events!

If you want to learn more about what it means to be a VTU member, the Member Handbook is a good overview. The structure of the Union and how it operates is covered in our Constitution, and the history of our shared values is detailed in the Basis of Unity.

In solidarity,
Your Fellow VTU Members

Confirmation # 58804