04/18/2025
URGENT: Follow up on our recent post regarding attacks by the landlord lobby on OTU
Since our last post, the attacks on OTU have escalated significantly, with Nebraska’s landlord lobby declaring all out war on organized tenants. Recently, Omaha Tenants United (OTU) has been accused of engaging in the Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL) in Nebraska. On April 3rd, OTU received correspondence from the Counsel for Discipline & The Unauthorized Practice of Law indicating they believed we are engaging in UPL. They did not cite any evidence for this claim, besides attaching several demand letters we have sent out to various landlords over the last few years alongside tenants. We have acquired counsel and will be submitting an appeal to their ruling.
The move to report Omaha Tenants United for UPL is undoubtedly a coordinated attack by the local landlord lobby — represented by Metropolitan Omaha Property Owners Association (MOPOA) — and their lawyers in an attempt to kneecap tenant organizing. MOPOA represents what is essentially a landlord cartel, wielding massive amounts of lobbying power, which they use to undermine any existing tenant protections at every opportunity. MOPOA has previously sued the City and succeeded in making code enforcement effectively meaningless in Omaha via the 2015 Consent Decree, eliminating one of the few conventional means by which landlords could be held accountable to uphold the most basic of living standards.
With the formation of OTU, tenants found a desperately-needed avenue by which to begin seizing power back from landlords and to fight for dignity and decent living spaces. Through the power of collective organizing, OTU has helped tenants win back tens of thousands of dollars that landlords would have stolen from them and has forced landlords to make serious repairs to their buildings that they would not have otherwise. Tenants reclaiming their power is unacceptable to the landlord lobby, as their business model relies upon the unimpeded ability to reduce services to a minimum while raising rents to a maximum. OTU represents a threat to this, and it is no coincidence that this attack comes on the heels of our success in establishing Nebraska’s very first tenant union locals. It is clear this legal maneuver is a thinly veiled attack on Nebraskans’ rights to form tenant unions at all. Landlords want to destroy OTU and our member unions because we are a check on their power.
Concerningly, mercenary landlord-attorney Tara Holterhaus serves on that very same Counsel for Discipline. Ms. Holterhaus has previously attempted to intimidate and retaliate against OTU on behalf of her clients, marking a clear conflict of interest by representing what is supposed to be an impartial body. In a recent committee hearing before the Nebraska Legislature, Ms. Holterhaus argued against the right to jury trial for tenants facing eviction on the basis that this would take too much time and resources due to the fact that she has “filed over 200 evictions in the past month alone.” Whose side Ms. Holterhaus is on should be clear. OTU requested meeting minutes and other documents to demonstrate whether this blatantly adverse party recused herself from the proceedings that led to this decision, but we were refused access to this information. This lack of transparency leads us to question whether these very serious accusations were investigated impartially.
This attack on tenant organizing in Omaha is not happening in a vacuum. It is part of broader assault across the US on the working class and represents a disturbing trend towards increased repression of dissent. If this is allowed to hold, it will exacerbate an environment that is already increasingly hostile to anyone fighting back against escalating authoritarianism and exploitation.
As such, this is more than just an attack on tenant organizing. If this opinion is maintained, it could have far-reaching consequences for labor unions, immigration rights activism, and more. For these reasons, OTU intends to fight against this ruling by all means at our disposal. OTU encourages tenants to continue organizing and building collective power to counter this barefaced repression, and calls on the citizens of Omaha to join us and mobilize against this decision, which seeks to further consolidate the power in the hands of the elite at the expense of working class people.
Please see the link in the comments if you would like to support OTU during this crucial time. We will have more information on ways to support OTU through this battle soon.
