2025

• January

  CTU visits the first set of V&B buildings, with a first visit during the January ’25 snowstorm. Tenants learn about “structure testing” and begin doing surveys to learn what they want changed in their homes.

• March

  A majority of tenants across five buildings complete the survey and meet to decide next steps; they vote for a 60% majority signature petition to their current property manager, Prodigy.

• April

  Tenants hold a press conference outside Prodigy offices as they deliver their petition. Channels 9 and 12, WVXU, and The Cincinnati Enquirer run stories.

  

• May

  Following their successful press conference, tenants hold a second meeting to decide their next course of action.

• June

  City council allocates $400,000 to address severe sewage issues at 5465-5473 Kirby Avenue, preventing the displacement of tenants at one of the largest V&B buildings in Prodigy’s receivership.

  A delegation of union members from V&B buildings meet with Mayor Aftab Pureval and come away with an agreement between the Mayor and CTU to coordinate inspections at their buildings.

• July

  CTU members deliver a photo petition and press conference outside the Hamilton County courthouse asking the city for more tenant support at Kirby Avenue and a new receiver for another set of former V&B properties.

  The court moves to allow more support at Kirby Avenue and a new receiver, John Rickert of RICORE Lee & Associates, for 24 buildings in the portfolio.

  

• August

  CTU members and John Rickert meet for their first collective bargaining session, held in a church and conducted with Spanish interpreters and tenants’ children also present. They leave with the first collectively bargained lease in Cincinnati history, which includes a 12-month rent freeze, union notification of all notices, translations of notices into other languages, and a union-drafted Inspection Checklist for the apartments of all current tenants.

  

• September

  The lease takes effect across 24 former V&B buildings, with tenants learning how to enforce the terms of their contract.

• October

  Tenants at Cambridge Arms, a subsidized senior living complex in Oakley, hold a press conference and send a petition to their prospective buyer, Related Affordable.

  

• November

  CTU receives a $50,000 grant from HouseUS.

  Members from across Cincinnati hold their first ever union-wide assembly to vote on priorities in 2026, including how to budget the HouseUS grant.

  

  CTU learns that 2058 Auburn Avenue, another former Vision & Beyond property with many longstanding union members, will be sold to a new owner named Jacob Shoushan. Shoushan agrees to begin contract negotiations in December.

• December

  Tenants at 2058 Auburn Avenue begin negotiations with Shoushan and secure several wins prior to his court-approved purchase in January 2026.