Millennia Resistance Campaign Launches, Announces Demands

The member organizations that make up the Millennia Resistance Campaign—a group of Millennia tenants, community organizers, lawyers, and other allies from around the country—are going public with their demands for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to hold accountable the Millennia Management Company LLC and Millennia Housing Management Ltd., as well as other troubled HUD owners, for poor property conditions. The Millennia Resistance Campaign will formally present these demands to HUD at their meeting on August 17th.

The campaign aims to call the public’s attention to the poor treatment of tenants and substandard living conditions that are common in properties owned and managed by The Millennia Companies. Millennia is one of the largest affordable housing providers in the country, managing over 30,000 units across 26 states. Over the past few years, it has developed a reputation for failing to rectify critical issues within many of its complexes.

On April 4th, the National Housing Law Project sent a letter to HUD detailing the severe problems six of Millennia’s properties are facing. The letter highlighted how HUD has been slow to hold Millennia accountable for its actions and to bring the properties into compliance so that tenants are not living in unsafe conditions.

The campaign is asking that HUD take the following actions:

1. Initiate a national investigation into Millennia and take what steps are necessary to ensure conditions are decent, safe, and sanitary.

2. Improve oversight and enforcement of conditions standards throughout HUD’s Project-Based Rental Assistance portfolio.

3. Reimburse Millennia tenants for out-of-pocket expenses they have incurred as a result of substandard living conditions.

4. Provide safe, affordable housing choices to displaced Millennia residents.

5. Honor the demands of local tenant associations who have worked for years to improve their properties, hold owners accountable, and be free from retaliation.

6. Include tenants and tenant associations in decision making about the future of their housing.

7. Protect tenants’ right to organize, a necessary key element to the holding troubled owners accountable for poor conditions; and

8. Fund resident organizing activities, so that residents have the resources necessary to mobilize for better housing conditions and a meaningful stake in the preservation of their housing.

Members of the public can learn more about the campaign and how they can support it by following @MillenniaResistance on Instagram, and @ResistMillennia on Twitter.