The Thessaloniki Tenants’ Union is a tenant-led organisation based in Thessaloniki, Greece, focused on collective defence of the right to housing and on improving tenants’ protections. Its organising initiative began in the city in early 2024, responding to rising rents, tourist and speculative uses of housing, and what organisers described as state inaction. 2 Nikos Vrantzis has spoken publicly as a member of the initiative, while media coverage has identified Elli Meliou and Alexandros Raptis as union representatives. 2
The group developed through open assemblies and discussions, and was formally recognised as a union in January 2025, according to reporting on its establishment. 12 It advocates policies including controls on rent increases, longer rental contracts and protection from abusive practices. 12 Its work also includes public interventions on local housing conditions and efforts to organise tenants across Thessaloniki’s metropolitan area. 1315
In June 2026, the union called on local government to play a more active role in housing policy. Its proposals included allocating at least 2% of municipal budgets to social housing, establishing a municipal tenants’ advocate and a body to inspect the habitability of rental homes, protecting tenants from evictions, and encouraging owners to make vacant homes available through social-rental arrangements. [The supplied page excerpt] The union has also raised habitability concerns with the municipality following a member’s complaint about a rental flat. 14
Although its primary base and organising focus are in Thessaloniki, reporting describes its public interventions as reaching beyond the city. 11 Sources identify Thessaloniki as its base but do not give a street address or a separately registered headquarters address. 215