Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can Solve the Housing Crisis

The True Crisis of Rent: Power, Inequality, and Survival

Imagine waking up every first of the month knowing that a significant share of your hard-earned wages must be handed over to someone who owns the roof above your head — not because they built it with their own labor, but because of a system designed to make you pay tribute. Rent is not just a price; it is a power relation. It is a legacy of centuries of wealth accumulation, racial exclusion, and economic inequality. This isn’t a story of supply and demand but one of exploitation and domination.

Consider that the average landlord spends less than four hours each month maintaining their properties, yet collects over $25,000 in rent per unit. This stark contrast reveals a system where profit is prioritized over tenant well-being. The consequences are all around us: mold creeping through walls, leaks flooding ceilings, roaches scurrying unseen — conditions tenants endure daily while paying more than they can afford. This is not neglect born of poverty but a calculated strategy to maximize returns.

Moreover, the value of housing is not created in isolation. It is deeply tied to public investments — from the pipes delivering water to the sidewalks connecting neighborhoods, from transit stops to schools. Tenants themselves produce the culture and safety that make neighborhoods desirable. Yet landlords capture this communal labor as private profit, extracting wealth from the very communities they displace.

These dynamics trap tenants in a cycle of precarity, forced to choose between food, medicine, and shelter. Rent is a monthly tribute paid at the peril of our dignity and survival. But understanding this is the first step toward reclaiming power. In the next section, we will explore how this crisis is not accidental but the result of a long, deliberate war on tenants — a war fought through laws, policies, and state violence designed to maintain landlord dominance.