Wanda Cooper's Tenant Success Story

Wanda Cooper is this first issue’s Tenant Success Story. Wanda, originally from Florida, moved to Rochester along with three of her children. She lives in a 4 unit building - 3 of them are occupied by her children, grandchildren and niece. Wanda’s introduction to housing activism came by total surprise when she met a member of the City-Wide Tenant Union who happened to be walking down her street. During this time, her apartment was having a lot of issues that the landlord refused to take care of while still approaching her for rent payments. Through working with the tenant union, she was able to get the City of Rochester to sue her landlord who ultimately sold all of his properties (seven of which went to the City Land Trust!). These experiences have pushed Wanda to double down on advocating for herself, her family and her friends. They’ve even influenced her husband to perform outreach and recruit new members for the tenant union. In the future, she hopes to own her building and open a restaurant in the storefront on the ground floor.