ISLA VISTA TENANTS UNION

INTRODUCTION

Isla Vista Tenants Union challenges and transforms unjust housing conditions and housing policies through empowerment-based education, leadership development, and grassroots community organizing. IVTU believes that alliances and partnerships are vital to building a strong pro-tenant community, and actively seeks to engage groups that support tenants’ rights.

Empowerment-based Education

IVTU empowers renters by providing them with information about their tenants’ rights, responsibilities, and resources. The IVTU office provides individual counseling aimed at providing the tenant with constructive knowledge and skills to ensure successful tenancies and help in the resolution of tenant-landlord conflict. It also sponsors educational programs designed to inform the community of tenants’ rights and address local tenancy issues of concern.

IVTU’s educational and individual counseling services our available to everyone in the Isla Vista community–from students attending UCSB and Santa Barbara City College to long-term residents.

Grassroots Community Organizing

IVTU’s work is grounded in a strong conviction that those facing housing problems must be the leaders of efforts to transform housing conditions and neighborhoods.

IVTU encourages students and permanent residents to work together to create a better community and to mobilize for desired community changes.

Community Alliances & Partnerships

IVTU realizes that in order to have a lasting impact within the community, it needs to forge alliances and partnerships with other organizations that support tenant education and empowerment. To this end, IVTU collaborates with neighborhood-building organizations and networks to foster a stronger sense of a united community.