MISSION
Tech Tools for Justice was incorporated in June 2024 to house the Landlord Mapper initiative. Landlord Mapper is a web application designed to help tenants research their landlords, allowing users to explore a database of landlord-linked rental properties. It aims to provide tenants with access to information about their landlord, specifically their landlord's name and mailing address, which tenants need in order to hold their landlord accountable in court. It also aims to help organizers form cross-building tenant associations by providing them with lists of properties owned by a single landlord.
In addition to Landlord Mapper, TT4J is spearheading the development of the Open Property Network Database (opndb), a data processing tool that automates and standardizes the process of linking rental properties to landlords using public records. The effort began as an attempt to create a methodology for linking properties to landlords for the city of Chicago. After launching Landlord Mapper Chicago and the publishing of the Landlord Data Methodology white paper, TT4J has broadened the effort by establishing collaborative partnerships with developers and data scientists to contribute to opndb's development. The ultimate goal of opndb is to create a data processing workflow that is city-agnostic, so that researchers and data scientists can quickly and easily obtain landlord data for their city with minimal effort.
TT4J also strives to build connections with communities, housing justice organizations and tenant organizers to assure that the software is meeting their needs. Such efforts include in-person demos and trainings and community feedback sessions, providing tenants with the opportunity to directly communicate their experiences and perspectives on how the tools could be improved. Fostering relationships on-the-ground with communities most severely impacted by the housing crisis is critical to the ultimate success of TT4J's initiatives.
As the housing crisis deepens and homeownership becomes increasingly out of reach, millions of people in the US are staring down a lifetime of renting. Meanwhile, rent continues to increase year after year, forcing tenants to pay a greater share of their incomes to the landlord. Tenant-landlord relations are quickly becoming one of the most pressing issues in American society, as the housing crisis continues deepening inequality and aggravating class tension.
Tenants are limited in their ability to hold their landlords accountable. They are usually told to simply sue their landlords, however many tenants cannot file lawsuits because they are unable to locate information about who their landlord is. Some landlords even intentionally withhold information about who they are, effectively robbing tenants of their only way to hold them accountable. This amounts to an abuse of power on the part of the landlord, and it allows landlords to violate the rights of their tenants with impunity.
Even if tenants are able to sue their landlords, in many cases the courts' sympathies lie with the landlord. Many judges themselves are landlords, and thus rule in favor of landlords as a means of protecting the interests of the landlord class broadly.
Given the ineffectiveness of existing legal mechanisms for holding landlords accountable, many tenants are left with no option but to organize unions and collectively bargain with their landlord. This is an option for tenants living in a building with many units, however for tenants in single family homes or two or three flats, this option is less viable. Tenants in these situations would need find out what other properties their landlord owns, if any, so that they can form cross-building associations to increase their bargaining power.
TT4J orients its work to empower tenants by providing them with the information they need to hold their landlords accountable. Through the development of Landlord Mapper and opndb, TT4J provides easy access to data that helps tenants locate information about their landlords, specifically names and mailing addresses required for sending legal correspondence. We also provide access to lists of properties owned by a single landlord, thus facilitating cross-building tenant organizing as a means of holding landlords accountable.