San Marcos renters are now permitted to organize tenant advocacy organizations under a newly passed city ordinance.
During its Oct. 21 meeting, the San Marcos City Council approved an ordinance that recognizes tenants’ rights to organize and advocate for housing issues without fear of property manager or agent retaliation.
Brought forward by the San Marcos Civics Club, the tenant’s right to organize allows renters to initiate advocacy efforts within their housing premises, such as conducting door-to-door surveys, holding tenant meetings and participating in recruiting for tenant advocacy organizations.
Maxfield Baker, founder of the San Marcos Civics Club, said the ordinance’s fundamental goals are to bring together renters who feel their rights are not being represented or respected.
“Just like the power of unions, these tenant associations are a really great way to get people that are otherwise really busy working multiple jobs and all that kind of stuff, to give them a place to really focus frustrations and issues they’re having with management or property managers or landlords,” Baker said.
Baker said the tenants’ right to organize ordinance is only the foundation to address the bigger housing issues tenants face day to day.
Maintenance problems, lack of communication and early lease termination are among some of the most common issues renters experience.
The ordinance states landlords who interfere with or obstruct those rights to organize can be punished with a misdemeanor charge, a general penalty for violations of the code.
During the meeting, Hannah Garcia, government and community affairs director for the Austin Apartments Association, expressed the department’s concern regarding the inclusion of property management as liable for violations of the city ordinance that raise both legal and operational issues.
Garcia said under the Texas Local Government Code, “an individual who’s an employee of the owner of real property for which a citation for a violation of a county or municipal rule or ordinances issued, or a company that managed the property on behalf of the property owner, is not personally liable for criminal or civil penalties.”
“In addition to that, conflict with state law extending criminal penalty with life and liability to an owner, to a person versus the contracted agent of an owner, could create significant challenges, disrupting the effective management of communities on site, teams are focused on ensuring safety, security and quality of life for residents,” Garcia said
Baker said that although the road to the adoption of the ordinance was a long one, it was the support of the community and council members Amanda Rodriguez and Shane Scott that made it possible.
“I think that [support] really illustrated how across the aisle this kind of issue is and how important it is to again, 71% of San Marcos … [is] renters, so seeing such a big change for such a significant portion of the population was kind of a no-brainer,” Baker said.
The council discussed possible education outreach methods on the ordinance for San Marcos’ tenant community, such as mailers and the development of a resource information site by the Office of Community Support and Resource Navigation.
The site is set to be fully operational by late October or early November.
“It was so many moving pieces with staff just being phenomenal, Mr. Baker just being relentless, but also willing to work with everybody and I just have made respect for all of the advocates who have been coming out time and time again to share their support, my colleagues, Mr. Scott for being my second, I really do appreciate it,” Rodriguez said during the meeting.
With the passing of the ordinance, Baker said the San Marcos Civics Club will continue to advocate for renters in San Marcos and expand their work with Texas State University student organizations.
“If we had tenants associations that people could go to and get the truth from, versus paid-for reviews or staffers that work for those apartment complexes writing reviews and stuff like that, I think that would be really impactful,” Baker said. “We know that students are a marginalized population in the sense that they are at risk.”
The San Marcos Civics Club and Austin Apartment Association plan to discuss and work together on future tenants’ bill of rights initiatives and efforts.
