I had been living in my apartment for over a year when the building manager informed me and my neighbors that we would be bought by CitiApartments.

Because I had previously worked as a tenant organizer and both seen and heard of their tactics, I was able to help my neighbors prepare. First, we had a meeting in one of my neighbors apartments where we explained to everybody what was happening, what their rights are, and what our defense would be. Everyone was told most explicitly "Do not talk to anyone, do not answer questions, do not open the door to strangers, do not sign anything. If you have questions, call the Tenderloin Housing Clinic law office."

The morning the building was bought, large men in black suits and ear pieces knocked on every door, handing people inch-thick documents that they claimed to be our "new" leases. Later that day, when we came home from work, 24-hour notices were plastered on all of our doors stating that we had to permit the owner entry to check for working smoke detectors. My neighbor and I made response notices that allowed residents to choose one of the following options:

2. My smoke detector is missing or broken. Only one person may enter the unit to fix or replace the smoke detector. Under no circumstance are pictures or other recordings to take place.

This happened every day for at least a week. We received new 24-hour notices, and every day my neighbor and I would make responses and knock on our neighbors doors and help them fill them out. We continued to talk to our neighbors, collectively organizing to make complaints to the Departments of Public Health and Building Inspection, and be confrontational with landlord representatives that were reportedly harassing vulnerable tenants. Although several tenants were targeted for short periods of time, not one single tenant accepted "move-out" payments, and no one was evicted.

It made leaders out of all of us.