Maria & Roger Markovics met at the University of Michigan while organizing a rent strike in 1969. One year later, they moved to Albany, where they worked as community workers out of a storefront crisis center called the Providence House, then part of Catholic Charities. It was around this time that the Markovics and friends began organizing as a community group called United Tenants of Albany. In 1973, UTA was formally established as a non-profit organization.
For the next decade, UTA would hold community actions and lead local campaigns to address poor code enforcement, while empowering tenants to organize for better housing conditions. Out of this era came essential tenant rights such as retaliatory eviction protections and the warranty of habitability.
In the 1980’s, the Markovics began working with Kirby White and the Institute for Community Economics in New England. From this partnership came several sister organizations, such as the Community Loan Fund of the Capital Region, the Albany Community Land Trust, and in 1990, the Affordable Housing Partnership. Each of these organizations exist today, providing various services aligned with social justice needs in our community.
The following decade was marked by the concentration of UTA’s mission along the lines of proactive legislative advocacy and community-defense via direct services with the establishment of the Homeless Prevention Program. The HPP includes emergency rental assistance, housing and budget counseling, tenant advocacy during landlord-tenant disputes, and court advocacy during eviction proceedings. All of these services continue today.
From the 2000s on, UTA would become Albany County’s largest distributor of emergency rental assistance to prevent evictions and subsequent homelessness. This became all the more relevant during the 2008 Great Recession, when working class tenants began losing their homes due to speculative lending practices and greater financialization of the housing market.
In 2016, after 43 years of leadership, the Markovics retired from UTA. Nonetheless, UTA continues its work in developing fighting tenant unions, advocating for tenant protections, defending tenants facing displacement, educating tenants about their rights, assisting tenants in overcoming homelessness, and empowering tenants to demand fair and dignified housing!