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Thomas Birmingham

@thomasbirm.bsky.social
924 followers 150 following 56 posts

Y23, He/Him | Someone once said I’m naturally anti-dogmatic. Housing is a human right. Currently @thenation.com. Previously @inthesetimesmag.bsky.social and more!

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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
In These Times @inthesetimes.com · 21/09/2026
“...we have power, and we will use it.” After years of rent overcharges, Kingston tenants are organizing building by building to force landlords to return money they say they’re owed. @thomasbirm.bsky.social on Kingston’s quiet rent revolution.
inthesetimes.com
Kingston’s Quiet Rent Revolution
Landlords have spent years ignoring a historic rent reduction. Now, tenants are organizing to get their money back.
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Since May, I've followed a building story in Kingston, NY, where tenants whose landlords overcharged them for years (totaling millions collectively) are organizing to win their rent money back. My latest for @inthesetimes.com, with potential national implications: inthesetimes.com/article/king...
inthesetimes.com
Kingston’s Quiet Rent Revolution
Landlords have spent years ignoring a historic rent reduction. Now, tenants are organizing to get their money back.
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
forgot to include a link to the above @inthesetimes.com article by @thomasbirm.bsky.social about KTU's historic win: inthesetimes.com/article/kent...
inthesetimes.com
Rural Kentucky Tenants Win Unprecedented Lease Agreement After Yearlong Campaign
How tenants in four federally-backed buildings in the South overcame intense retaliation and won a new contract from their out-of-state landlord.
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Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
I had the honor of spending time this week with the Kentucky Tenant Union and came away inspired by their razor-sharp clarity of purpose and commitment to one another. At a time when so many feel powerless, they're showing what's possible when neighbors come together to build real collective power.
Group photo of Brian with Kentucky Tenant Union members and organizers in Louisville
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
There's still time to apply for a summer internship @inthesetimes.com! As fascists and billionaires ransack the journalism industry, there's never been a better time to join an award-winning, nonprofit, progressive outlet. Deadline is March 15! Details: inthesetimes.com/internships
inthesetimes.com
Internships
If you have a strong interest in progressive politics, independent publishing and journalism, we encourage you to apply for an editorial internship with In These Times.
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Ari Bloomekatz @bloomekatz.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
A Staggering Number of Minnesotans Took to the Streets Friday to Demand ICE Leave. The Next Day ICE Responded by Killing Another Resident. by @thomasbirm.bsky.social @inthesetimes.com “How many more Americans need to die for this operation to end?” said Mayor Frey. inthesetimes.com/article/minn...
inthesetimes.com
A Staggering Number of Minnesotans Took to the Streets Friday to Demand ICE Leave. The Next Day, ICE Responded by Killing Another Resident.
Saturday morning marked the third shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis this month. “How many more Americans need to die for this operation to end?” said Mayor Jacob Frey.
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Masked federal agents have executed another Minneapolis resident, this time 37-year-old nurse and union member Alex Pretti. My latest for @inthesetimes.com inthesetimes.com/article/minn...
inthesetimes.com
A Staggering Number of Minnesotans Took to the Streets Friday to Demand ICE Leave. The Next Day, ICE Responded by Killing Another Resident.
Saturday morning marked the third shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis this month. “How many more Americans need to die for this operation to end?” said Mayor Jacob Frey.
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
“American Landmark is … owned by Elco, one of Israel’s largest corporations… Elco … has done extensive business in Israeli settlements … considered illegal under international law. Elco has also maintained deep ties to the Israeli military, including during the genocide in Gaza.” Wow.
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Kathryn Joyce @kathrynajoyce.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
"In August, I contacted the UN Human Rights Office to ask about the implications of a circumstance like this, in which a company they flagged for involvement in Israeli settlements has a large US subsidiary profiting off tenants like Kelly." Stunning new investigation from @thomasbirm.bsky.social
thenation.com
The Eviction Kings
One of Israel’s biggest companies is taking over huge swaths of US real estate—and tenants are paying the price.
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
And all the while, American Landmark's Charlotte tenants' rent money is being funneled, in part, into a company linked to the displacement and genocide of Palestinians 6,000 miles away. Read the full story here: www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
The Eviction Kings
One of Israel’s biggest companies is taking over huge swaths of US real estate—and tenants are paying the price.
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Diron Kelly, a 49-year-old truck driver, was one such tenant evicted from Conrad in 2024 after American Landmark saddled him with a $400 rent hike. He spent the following months homeless, showering at rest stops, sleeping in his truck. "It's been a nightmare," he told me. (9/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
In the first half of 2025, the six AL complexes in Charlotte for which we could obtain eviction data had an average filing rate of 51 percent—7 times the national average. These filings targeted about 450 different people with eviction in just one city in just six months. (8/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
@evictionlab.bsky.social at Princeton produces a national average eviction filing rate—in 2024, it was roughly 7%. The highest rate for any of the areas the group tracked was 24%. That year, the filing rate at Conrad at Concord Mills was 68 percent, more than nine times the average. (7/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
This displacement, per Lubeck, is immense: Based on AL’s “modeling,” only “55 percent of existing residents [are expected to] stay,” while the other 45 percent “move out.” Court records show the eviction filing rate at Conrad has now more than quadrupled since AL took over. (6/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Lubeck confirmed to me that rent increases are part of the company’s strategy. “When we take over a property, the first analysis we do is: How much is the rent going to go up? We typically raise the rent anywhere from $100 to $400, so some people are absolutely displaced." (5/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
At the Conrad at Concord Mills complex, for example, tenants said that after American Landmark bought the property in 2022, they were hit with rent hikes up to $400/mo. “Before they came, rent was manageable. When they took over, it became out of reach,” one tenant said. (4/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Of the 34,000 units American Landmark owns across the South, the company boasts some 2,400 in Charlotte, roughly one in every 85 units in the city. I spoke with over two dozen tenants in Charlotte American Landmark had filed an eviction against. Their stories were telling. (3/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
In a 2022 post in Forbes, American Landmark CEO Joseph Lubeck highlighted four of the South’s “hottest markets” where annual rent increases had reached anywhere from 15 to 24 percent and would be “likely to support continued rent growth.” Charlotte was first on his list. (2/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Yesterday, @thenation.com ran my unprecedented investigation revealing a major U.S. landlord's links to West Bank settlements and the IDF. To see how American Landmark's U.S. tenants are being victimized, let's look at AL's properties in Charlotte, NC. (1/10) www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
The Eviction Kings
One of Israel’s biggest companies is taking over huge swaths of US real estate—and tenants are paying the price.
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Eviction Lab @evictionlab.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
“Before they came, rent was manageable. I was never late. When they took over, it became out of reach.” www.typeinvestigations.org/investigatio... By @thomasbirm.bsky.social. Via @thenation.com @typeinvestigations.org #housing+ #urbanism+ #urbanism
typeinvestigations.org
The Eviction Kings - Type Investigations
© Type Media Center document.write(new Date().getFullYear()). All Rights Reserved.
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
For @thenation.com, I dug into American Landmark, a major landlord unleashing rent hikes and eviction filings across the South, all while their parent company Electra has financial ties to West Bank settlements and the IDF. See it in the company's own words: www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Excerpt from a recent article in The Nation magazineExcerpt from a recent article in The Nation magazineExcerpt from a recent article in The Nation magazineExcerpt from a recent article in The Nation magazine
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Alex Han @alexhan.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
our struggles are interconnected in ways we can't even imagine
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Today's must-read by @thomasbirm.bsky.social: a major corporate landlord is fueling homelessness across the U.S. *and* the mass displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank. The Israeli company owns tens of thousands of apartments in the South, filing evictions at nine times the national average.
thenation.com
The Eviction Kings
One of Israel’s biggest companies is taking over huge swaths of US real estate—and tenants are paying the price.
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Jack Mirkinson @jackmirkinson.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Also if you read this story and went "omfg," please follow @thomasbirm.bsky.social, who worked on it for over a year and is brilliant in every way.
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Jack Mirkinson @jackmirkinson.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
We have a stunning story from @thomasbirm.bsky.social in @thenation.com. It's about how one of Israel's biggest companies, with deep ties to the IDF and illegal settlements, is taking over huge swathes of US real estate—with tenants paying the price. A MUST-read. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
The Eviction Kings
One of Israel’s biggest companies is taking over huge swaths of US real estate—and tenants are paying the price.
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Type Investigations @typeinvestigations.org · 11/11/2025
One of Israel’s biggest companies is taking over huge swaths of US real estate—and tenants are paying the price. @thomasbirm.bsky.social reports in partnership with @thenation.com: www.typeinvestigations.org/investigatio...
typeinvestigations.org
The Eviction Kings - Type Investigations
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
This means that some 70,000 American tenants' rent money is being funneled, in part, into a company linked to the displacement and genocide of Palestinians 6,000 miles away, while facing rent hikes and eviction filings themselves. (10/10) Read it all here: www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
The Eviction Kings
One of Israel’s biggest companies is taking over huge swaths of US real estate—and tenants are paying the price.
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
In 2024, the American Friends Service Committee put Electra on a list of companies contributing to "Israel’s prolonged military occupations, apartheid, and genocide.” The same year, an Electra executive described American Landmark as a “big winning card” for the company. (9/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights cites Electra in its database of over 150 companies doing business in the settlements. Research groups like Who Profits also have extensive profiles of Electra's business activities. (8/10) www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
ohchr.org
UN Human Rights Office updates database of businesses involved in Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank
GENEVA – The UN Human Rights Office today issued an update to its database of businesses involved in certain activities in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, listing a ...
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
On top of displacing these U.S. tenants, American Landmark is owned by Electra, an Israeli conglomerate. Electra conducts extensive business in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which drive many thousands of Palestinians from their homes. (7/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
He continued: “We typically raise the rent anywhere from $100 to $400, so some people are absolutely displaced." Based on the company’s “modeling,” Lubeck said, only “55 percent of existing residents [are expected to] stay,” while the remaining 45 percent “move out.” (6/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
When I spoke with Lubeck, he denied that American Landmark’s practices are predatory, but confirmed that rent increases and displacement are part of the company’s strategy. "The first analysis we do is: How much is the rent going to go up, and how many can afford to stay” (5/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
These tenants reported a wide array of issues they say led to their eviction cases—from steep rent increases to a blizzard of fees. "I feel like they're predatory," one tenant told me. "You want to increase the homelessness rate because we’re short a couple of dollars?" (4/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Over the last year, I reviewed thousands of eviction records from dozens of American Landmark’s properties and interviewed 43 of their tenants who faced eviction cases in Charlotte, Summerville, and Jacksonville. I even interviewed the company's CEO, Joseph Lubeck. (3/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
American Landmark boasts roughly 34,000 units, home to some 70,000 tenants, concentrated in 111 mega-complexes across eight Southern states, particularly North Carolina, Florida, and Texas. They are the country's 34th largest landlord, and have a private equity structure. (2/10)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
For @thenation.com and @typeinvestigations.org, I looked into American Landmark, a major landlord filing evictions far more than the national average. I found they are owned by an Israeli company with ties to the IDF, including during the Gaza genocide. (1/10) www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
The Eviction Kings
One of Israel’s biggest companies is taking over huge swaths of US real estate—and tenants are paying the price.
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Last fall, I investigated this landlord, Capital Realty Group, for allowing over a dozen tenants in one New Haven complex to develop severe respiratory conditions from untreated mold. Now, Capital Realty's tenants across the U.S. are unionizing to improve conditions inthesetimes.com/article/mold...
inthesetimes.com
As Corporate Landlords Spread, a Mold Epidemic Takes Root
Chronic mold has become an epidemic as severe as lead paint, but neither cities nor landlords are taking responsibility.
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
BREAKING: Hundreds of tenants across four states are waging the first campaign in recent memory to bargain with a shared private equity landlord across state lines For @inthesetimes.com, this is the Tenant Union Federation’s effort to win a historic interstate lease inthesetimes.com/article/priv...
inthesetimes.com
Have Private Equity Landlords Met Their Match?
A new campaign from the Tenant Union Federation is uniting hundreds of tenants in four states to take on the mega-corporation that owns their homes.
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Kathryn Joyce @kathrynajoyce.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
A new campaign from the Tenant Union Federation is uniting hundreds of tenants in four states to take on the mega-corporation that owns their homes. New report from @thomasbirm.bsky.social @inthesetimes.com on how tenant unions are taking on private equity landlords.
inthesetimes.com
Have Private Equity Landlords Met Their Match?
A new campaign from the Tenant Union Federation is uniting hundreds of tenants in four states to take on the mega-corporation that owns their homes.
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
Ruthy Gourevitch @ruthygourevitch.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
In NY, homeowners are 2x as likely to vote as tenants. Unless there are pro-tenant policies on the ballot, that is, like a rent freeze. In the mayoral race @tenantbloc.bsky.social tried to awaken the untapped potential of tenants as a political bloc. Read @thomasbirm.bsky.social on this strategy ⬇️
inthesetimes.com
Will NYC's Long-Suffering Tenants Carry Zohran Mamdani to Victory?
A close look inside the campaign that has helped turn New York City renters into a force to be reckoned with.
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
A Mamdani win would freeze rents for 4 years for 2 million+ rent-stabilized tenants, who disproportionately vote less, in NYC. "Tenants are a sleeping giant," @ceaweaver tells me for @inthesetimes.com. "If you could wake up the tenant vote, that would be an unstoppable force in New York politics.”
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
NEW: Since February, I've followed @tenantbloc.bsky.social's campaign to win a rent freeze in NYC. Now, Zohran Mamdani is on the verge of a victory that would deliver one. Here's a first look into how organizers brought over 20,000 tenants into Mamdani's coalition. inthesetimes.com/article/zohr...
inthesetimes.com
Will NYC's Long-Suffering Tenants Carry Zohran Mamdani to Victory?
A close look inside the campaign that has helped turn New York City renters into a force to be reckoned with.
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Sarah Lazare @sarahlazare.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
"These are the moments where we need to turn to our coalitions. We need to have as much communication and joint organizing as possible." Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles, speaking with @thomasbirm.bsky.social
inthesetimes.com
“Our Biggest Fear”: A Garment Worker Organizer on the ICE Raid That Set Off Mass Protest
“They're picking up folks who were literally just going about making their daily bread and terrorizing them in their place of work," says Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Worker Center in Los A...
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
In These Times @inthesetimes.com · 11/06/2025
@thomasbirm.bsky.social spoke with Marissa Nuncio of the Garment Worker Center in LA. They discuss the ICE raids—at which two dozen garment workers were abducted—that sparked city-wide protests and how labor can respond to Trump's assault on migrant workers: inthesetimes.com/article/ice-...
inthesetimes.com
“Our Biggest Fear”: A Garment Worker Organizer on the ICE Raid That Set Off Mass Protest
“They're picking up folks who were literally just going about making their daily bread and terrorizing them in their place of work," says Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Worker Center in Los A...
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
“They’re picking up folks who were literally just going about making their daily bread and terrorizing them in their place of work," Nuncio told me. See below for a way to support the families of the abducted garment workers: www.gofundme.com/f/urgent-aid...
gofundme.com
Donate to Urgent Aid for LA Families of 14 Detained by ICE, organized by Jennifer Alejo
Dear Community, we are reeling from the recent detentions of fourteen… Jennifer Alejo needs your support for Urgent Aid for LA Families of 14 Detained by ICE
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
I got to speak with Marissa Nuncio at the Garment Worker Center in LA for @inthesetimes.com. We discuss the ICE raids—at which two dozen garment workers were abducted—that sparked city-wide protests, and how labor can respond to Trump's assault on migrant workers: inthesetimes.com/article/ice-...
inthesetimes.com
“Our Biggest Fear”: A Garment Worker Organizer on the ICE Raid That Set Off Mass Protest
“They're picking up folks who were literally just going about making their daily bread and terrorizing them in their place of work," says Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Worker Center in Los A...
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Reposted by Thomas Birmingham
In These Times @inthesetimes.com · 24/04/2025
Congratulations to @thomasbirm.bsky.social, a named a Livingston finalist for his groundbreaking investigation of a mold crisis in New Haven, CT, fueled by landlord neglect. Read his reporting here: inthesetimes.com/article/mold...
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
You can read the full investigation here: inthesetimes.com/article/mold... The piece led to hearings and the establishment of a working group in New Haven to address the issue: inthesetimes.com/article/mold... I'm so grateful this work gets to be in company with these other incredible finalists!
inthesetimes.com
As Corporate Landlords Spread, a Mold Epidemic Takes Root
Chronic mold has become an epidemic as severe as lead paint, but neither cities nor landlords are taking responsibility.
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
I'm so, so honored to be named a 2025 Livingston Award finalist for “As Corporate Landlords Spread, a Mold Epidemic Takes Root” in @inthesetimes.com. I spent 6+ months on this investigation, interviewing New Haven tenants who developed respiratory conditions thanks to landlord neglect. Read below!
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
He also spearheaded a petition against a pro-Palestinian Yale professor and wrote about it for the Times of Israel. Let’s all use our brains about this and not fall for the same bits used by the same grifters. blogs.timesofisrael.com/remove-zaree...
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