"Rather than renter, we use the expansive term tenant. The concept harkens back to landlords’ feudal title, which makes their power clear. It also refuses the dehumanizing division that ejects unhoused people from our analyses as soon as they are pushed from their homes. A tenant is more than a renter. A tenant is anyone who doesn’t control their housing, who inhabits but doesn’t own. Like the word tent, the origin of the word tenant is from the Latin tenere, which means ‘to hold’ or ‘to have.’ Tenants hold space but are vulnerable to having it taken away."
–Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis (Rosenthal, Vilchis, 2024)
Prickly Pear Housing Alliance formed in early 2025 to address the concerns of all tenants in Helena.
Who: Renters, Homeowners, Unhoused, not landlords or property managers.
What: A tenants union is a way to build collective power to protect those who are vulnerable to losing their living space.
Why: Emancipate tenants from the exploitation of commodified housing.
Check out our resource list with links to local, state and nationwide tenant information including the MLSA’s Montana Eviction Intervention Program and MontPIRG’s Tenant Landlord Guide.
Some of our short-term goals include;
Long-Term goals;
In mid October 2025, TUF (Tenant Union Federation) completed their inaugural training series: Union School, a three-month intensive training on tenant union organizing.
They received 326 applications to Union School from tenants all over the world, admitted 249 participants and graduated 118.
Prickly Pear Housing Alliance is excited to announce we are a part of the graduating cohort! We are now trained in various subjects of tenant union organizing, for example: landlord research and property mapping; door knocking and organizing conversations; leader assessment; organizing teams; meetings and turnout; card drives; demands; majority union launch; target analysis and communication; strategy and escalation; bargaining; rent strikes.
The numbers reflect the program’s rigor: Union School was not a training on theory, it was a skills training, and participants were expected to complete organizing assignments on a weekly basis, putting the skills into practice.
We’re meeting to share stories in solidarity and trade ideas for strengthening housing rights for everyone. Join us at the Lewis and Clark Library on the first Monday of the month, please email us for addtional information.