Book Review :: Abolish Rent by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis

Review by Eleanor J. Bader

Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis is an inspirational text, reminding us that we can do something about gentrification, sky-high rents, and deteriorated living conditions. Although it is short on practical details, the book offers readers an upbeat look at how tenants can amass power by organizing their buildings and then branching out to organize city blocks, as well as whole neighborhoods and even cities. The goal? Better code enforcement, investment in neighborhoods, and controls on rent increases.

Both authors are involved in the Los Angeles Tenants Union and draw on examples of successful organizing to forestall evictions, lower rents, and improve living conditions. But while the book doesn’t address the cost of housing maintenance—that is, if housing was not privately owned and a source of profit, would the government be responsible for providing upkeep and other services? Would the tenants form co-ops and each pay their share of the total?

Despite these deficits, Abolish Rent offers a keenly-drawn alternative to housing for personal gain, with landlords literally operating as Lords of the Land and profiting from their investments. Yes, rent is too damned high, and Abolish Rent reminds us that we can win affordable and accessible housing if we organize to demand it.

Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis. Haymarket Books. September 2024.

Reviewer bio: Eleanor J. Bader is a Brooklyn, NY-based journalist who writes about books and domestic social issues for Truthout, Rain Taxi, The Progressive, Ms. Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Indypendent.