Help Renita Moore Set Up the Home She Fought For

Lifelong Detroiter, Renita Moore, has fought her way through systemic displacement that disproportionally affects Black Women the most. Renita lost her previous home at the end of 2019 when she was unjustly evicted because voucher holder CMA stopped paying their portion of rent. For over two years during the pandemic, Renita was forced to stay in Detroit shelters. In the summer of 2021, Renita's son was killed and despite grieving such a devastating loss, she began to tell her story and fight alongside others for safe, affordable housing for all. Now Renita is in the home she fought for and continues to demand that her new landlord complete critical repairs--all while continuing to stand up for others. Your donation will help welcome Renita home and make her comfortable with some much-needed items she lost during the pandemic, a bed frame, dresser, couch, kitchen table, and a twin bed for her grandbaby.

More on Ms. Renita Moore:

Renita was evicted from her last home in 2019 when voucher holder CMA stopped paying their portion of the rent. Following the eviction, Ms. Moore spent over 2 years in Detroit shelters. Renita began to share her story when she joined a rally and bbq at the Tiny Homes run by Community Social Services (CCSS) in the summer of 2021. While supporting Taura Brown's eviction fight and other Tiny Homes tenants who were promised home ownership, Renita spoke to the crowd about conditions in the CCSS shelter. Soon after that event her son was killed. Renita, again in a shelter, wondered if her son would still be alive if she still had a home where he could come for safety.

While grieving the loss of her son and searching for a new home, she organized fellow shelter tenants to come to meetings in a nearby park, culminating in a petition demanding better conditions for all CCSS tenants and the deeds for Tiny Homes tenants who were promised home ownership. Cass Community sent staff to spy on tenant meetings and despite the threat of retaliation, Renita personally circulated the petition inside the Scott building, home to shelter and Permanent Supportive Housing tenants, of which over 30 signed. The petition was sent to Cass Community, HANDetroit, HUD (United States Department of Housing and Urban Development), and Detroit officials like Mary Sheffield, then Detroit City Council President Pro Tem. Renita organized with Taura Brown and picketed outside HUD’s federal offices in Detroit and met with HUD officials on the substance of grievances.

Renita was moved due to retaliation from the Cass Community Social Services shelter to the Salvation Army Shelter. Here she became even more vocal, passing out grievance forms and organizing fellow shelter tenants to protest and speak out about vile shelter conditions to Detroit City Council.

Renita officially moved into her house in October of 2022. Her fight included navigating obsolete housing lists, going to viewings where there were always multiple families viewing the properties, and slumlords listing unrenovated properties just to collect application fees from low-income Detroiters. Renita also navigated the case management system that is supposed to assist her in her search for a new home by fighting her way up the supervisor chain to get access to the resources and the attention she deserved. While Renita is now finally in her new home, she continues to battle it out with her new property management to get the critical repairs done.

Renita Moore not only advocates for herself, but she is a voice for all in the fight for affordable, livable, and safe housing. Now Renita could use our support as she settles into her new place after two long years of shelters and storage units, all within a pandemic. Renita lost a lot during her housing fight, so please donate to help her get furniture and much-needed household items such as a couch and table for her living room, a kitchen table, a bed frame, a twin bed for her granddaughter, and dressers for the bedrooms.