The History of Tenant Rights: DC Walking Tour, starting at 1:00 pm on Sunday, March 10, 2024 at Columbia Heights Civic Plaza (1400 Park Rd. NW) in DC, will be a neighborhood walking tour exploring the past, present, and future of tenant rights in the area. The Tour will visit 3 sites around Columbia Heights connected to the history of how tenants came together to demand rent control, better housing conditions, buy the buildings from their landlord and form cooperatives, organize tenant unions, and exercise their power to get the DC Council to pass the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (TOPA) Act. The Walking Tour will be led by Professor Amanda Huron, organizers with the Stomp Out Slumlords campaign, and current tenants in Columbia Heights -drawing from peoples’ personal experience organizing as tenants and on original research on DC social movements. The Walking Tour will connect attendees with information on what rights they have as tenants, and to contemporary education and organizing in the DMV through Metro DC DSA and Stomp Out Slumlords. 

The tour will meet in the center of Columbia Heights Civic Plaza at 1:00 p.m., and the tour will adjourn at 2:45 p.m. around the intersection of Sherman St. NW and Lamont St. NW after ~ 2 miles of walking - followed by a happy hour afterward at Midlands Tavern. We will provide snacks and water on the tour. The Walking Tour is hosted by Metro DC DSA’s Political Education Working Group and Stomp Out Slumlords campaign.