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On a late August morning, more than 200 tenants and P.O.W.E.R. leaders marched to save affordable housing in their Venice neighborhood of West Los Angeles. The rally resulted in over a thousand people keeping their homes.

"We won a victory because our housing will stay affordable," said Phyllis DesVerney, president of the Holiday Venice Tenant Association, a member institution of Parents Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER). "We have demonstrated the power and leadership of organized tenants."

During the past six months POWER has waged an intense campaign to save the Breezes Del Mar Apartments (formerly Holiday Venice) as affordable housing. In March 2001, the owners of the Breezes Del Mar Apartments informed tenants that they wanted to end affordability restrictions on the property. They submitted a proposal to the local HUD office requesting permission to pay off the HUD mortgage and end project-based Section 8 subsidies.

POWER, together with Holiday Venice Tenant Action Coalition and other organizational allies, worked to organize political resistance to this proposal. "The owners wanted to kick us out and turn our apartments in condos," said Violet Hudson, a tenant leader with the Holiday Venice Tenant Action Committee. "We won't let that happen."

To prevent the evictions of over 1,200 low-income African-American and Latino tenants, POWER secured the commitments of Congresswoman Harman, Senator Feinstein and Councilwoman Galanter to oppose the owner's proposal. Congresswoman Harman and Senator Feinstein wrote letters to Secretary Mel Martinez at HUD expressing their explicit opposition to the owner's proposal.

As a result of POWER's organizing drive, the owners of Breezes Del Mar Apartments decided to withdraw the proposal from consideration. POWER leaders later learned that the local HUD office had told the owners they could not approve the proposal due to overwhelming political pressure. This important victory effectively preserves the current status at Breezes Del Mar Apartments. "We showed the owner's they couldn't make a profit on the backs of low-income tenants," said tenant leader Maria Ramirez.

At the Aug. 25 march and rally, Congresswoman Harman made a dramatic public commitment to preserve the apartments as affordable and create an affordable housing strategy that works for West Los Angeles. Harman signed a poster-size commitment form in front of more than 200 tenants to keep their apartments affordable. Following the rally and march, covered by the LA Times, 60 leaders reconvened to stage a protest action outside the block-long mansion home of one of the investors in Breezes Del Mar.

Since the rally and protest, tenants at Holiday Venice have received a letter from the owner of the Breezes Del Mar Apartments. In this letter, he promised not only to meet with the tenants but also to consider the sale of the building to a tenant-endorsed non-profit. Congresswoman Harman has also promised that her staff will be part of the negotiation team to ensure the owner keeps his commitments. POWER leaders will continue to fight so that Holiday Venice tenants can continue to live in affordable housing.

"We are going to fight the good fight for low-income tenants living in our community," said Phyllis Des Verney. "We will organize because our families are here for the long haul."