One Paycheck Away: the National Union of the Homeless and Urban Land Struggle, 1964-1993 & beyond

Abstract

Between 1985 and 1993, the National Union of the Homeless (NUH) — the first union of homeless people in United States history — reclaimed buildings across 73 cities, organized tens of thousands of unhoused people, and wrested land concessions from the arch-conservative Reagan administration. Led primarily by committed Black Communists who brought with them organizing experiences in urban rebellions, international brigades, civil rights, rent strikes, electoral politics, and revolutionary labor unions, the NUH reveals hidden histories of poor people’s militant, multiracial, urban organization across the late 20th century. This paper asserts that such a bottom-up history not only counters declensionist narratives about the post-1960s left and thus posits new understandings of 20th century history, but surfaces genealogies of struggle that offer vital lessons, legacies, and infrastructures to insurgent movements of tenants and unhoused people today.