The National Tenant Network (NTN) is a corporation that provides landlords information on potential tenants for a fee. The name, National Tenant Network, sounds like a service dedicated to protecting tenants. This is deceiving because it is a service that actually works against tenants. In their own words, this is the service NTN offers:
“NTN’s resident screening reports will help you identify whether an applicant is likely to be a good tenant or a problem tenant. We maintain the largest resident history database in the country and are able to create customized analyses of the screening results for each of our subscribers. Not only do we update local eviction filings daily, but we rely on property owners, like you, to provide information about your residents that can be shared across the network with other landlords, property owners and helps you manage the risk.”
As unemployment surges across the U.S. entities like NTN only make the problem worse. The assumption is that when people get evicted or when an eviction notice is issued against someone, it is always the result of tenants’ bad decisions or criminal behavior. What gets ignored are the larger trends that are widening the gap between the capitalist class and the working class. If jobs are being cut and wages are stagnating, how is it workers’ fault if we can’t pay rent?
What can be done?
We can opt out of NTN and dispute their reports in the short term (see the flier), but in the long term, we need a new system that recognizes housing as a constitutionally-protected human right. See votesocialist2024 to get involved.
