Roofs and Rights

Techos Y Derechos

In the late 1980s, Shelterforce produced a series of films around housing justice and tenants’ rights. One of the movies in that series was "Techos y Derechos" (“Roofs and Rights”), a Spanish-language film on tenant organizing and tenants’ rights, featuring the stories and experiences and victories of tenants in Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey. Produced in partnership with La Casa De Don Pedro and Newark Media Works and directed and filmed by Tami Gold, the short documentary was aired on Spanish-language TV stations to encourage tenants to understand and stick up for their rights. Despite the film being over 30 years old, the problems—and the solutions—featured in it will be quite familiar to anyone who works in tenant organizing.