Emery Brush and Michael Plowman went door to door on Friday at the three buildings that make up the Brentwood Apartments near Loring Park in Minneapolis. Since the Brentwood Tenant Union formed earlier this year, canvassing is routine for them. This time, it was to check which apartments were vacant and update them on the outcome of litigation against their landlord.
After two consecutive winters of erratic heating in the apartments, things came to a head when the buildings didn’t have heat and water for six days this January. “It was cold as [expletive] in here,” said one of the tenants. “I went to my mom’s to stay.”
Frustrated by months of inaction by the landlord, the residents decided to form a tenants union…