Community Alliance of Tenants

The Community Alliance of Tenants is part of the Fair Shot for All left-of-center advocacy coalition. ^{2 3}

Background

The Community Alliance of Tenants is a nonprofit advocacy group focused on tenant advocacy. The group is organized around three principles: education, advocacy, and organization.  ¹

The Community Alliance of Tenants is part of the left-of-center advocacy coalition Fair Shot for ALL along with the group Stable Homes for Oregon Families. The coalition claims to be an advocacy organization based around “Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color; LGBTQ+ individuals; women; immigrants; and working-class families.”  ^{2 3}

Activities

As part of its tenant-education efforts, the Community Alliance of Tenants offers a hotline intended to provide individuals with information about their rights as tenants, as well as providing resources on its website. The Community Alliance of Tenants also runs workshops, letter-writing clinics, and eviction counseling as part of its educational efforts.  ⁴

As part of its tenant advocacy program, the Community Alliance of Tenants runs a Tenant Leadership Council, which is responsible for setting its advocacy agenda based on its research. Fair Shot for All, Stable Homes for Oregon Families, and Welcome Home partner with the Community Alliance of Tenants on some of its advocacy agenda.  ⁵

As part of its tenant organizing efforts, the Community Alliance of Tenants runs the “Safe Housing Project,” which claims to be a program through which tenants with the support of the Community Alliance of Tenants can organize and address concerns over housing safety issues.  ⁶

Funding

In 2023, the Community Alliance for Tenants reported $1,371,341 in revenues, $1,671,989 in expenses, and $1,607,084 in total assets.  ⁷

The Meyer Memorial Trust gave $100,000 in 2024 to the Community Alliance of Tenants, as well as $131,000 in 2023, $106,000 in 2022, and $115,000 in 2021.  ⁸

The Oregon Community Foundation gave $53,000 in 2022 to the Community Alliance of Tenants, as well as $81,500 in 2021 and $74,500 in 2020.  ⁹

The Collins Foundation gave $50,000 in 2021 to the Community Alliance of Tenants, as well as $70,000 in 2020.  ¹⁰

The Social Justice Fund Northwest gave $20,098 in 2018 to the Community Alliance of Tenants, as well as $12,900 in 2016 and $19,724 in 2015.  ¹¹

The Right to the City Alliance gave $100,000 in 2021 to the Community Alliance of Tenants.  ¹²

Clean Energy Works gave $30,000 in 2020 to the Community Alliance of Tenants.  ¹³

People

As of 2025, Kim McCarty was the executive director of the Community Alliance of Tenants. Previously, McCarty worked for the Portland Housing Bureau as a rental services manager.  ¹⁴

As of 2025, Alex Rhodes was listed as the president of the board of the Community Alliance of Tenants. Rhodes is an environmental educator at the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership. Previously, Rhodes was a youth program coordinator at Groundwork.  ^{15  16}