Film Review – Raise the Roof: Building Tenant Power in Syracuse

Directed by Gretchen Purser, 2025

Madeleine Hamlin

Published in Issue 8.1 // Updates

Keywords: Tenants union, Syracuse, documentary film, good cause evictions, landlords

Abstract:

This review analyzes the recent documentary film “Raise the Roof: Building Tenant Power in Syracuse” (dir. Gretchen Purser), which follows the work of the nascent tenants union in Syracuse, New York. Through interviews with tenants, union organizers, and policy experts, the film capably narrates the housing challenges faced by Syracuse renters and effectively showcases the means by which the union is fighting back. As such, it makes a powerful tool for public education and advocacy.

http://doi.org/10.54825/IJVB1197

Madeleine Hamlin is Assistant Professor of Geography at Colgate University. Her research examines the intersections of housing policy and the U.S. carceral state. Her forthcoming book is Policing the Project (University of Chicago Press, 2027).

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