Antonio Ennis aka Twice Thou - the Dorchester Community Organizer for City Life/Vida Urbana helps lead the national campaign for Rent Control at a day of action outside and inside the State House with a rally and lobby to legislators. He collects thousands of signatures to get Rent Control put on the ballot and passed into law for November 2026. We should all be able to afford a roof over our heads and support our families, children, and elders. But out of control housing costs are making it impossible for hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents to make ends meet, holding back our entire economy. Under current state law, there is no limit to the amount landlords can increase rents each year. Profit-seeking corporate real estate investors are buying homes and hiking rents astronomically, raising the price of housing for everyone. Now the majority of renters in Massachusetts struggle to afford their rents. Studies show that limiting rent increases does not harm housing production. Both the legislation and the ballot question include new construction exemptions to protect new housing construction. Housing production alone will not solve the housing crisis. Renters need protection now, while we tackle the need for longer-term solutions like increased production and zoning reform. WE NEED RENT CONTROL NOW!

CityLife/Vida Urbana member Antonio Ennis address Boston's Occupy The Hood crowd. Speaks about uniting to fight against corporate greed.

Video of the Bank Attack song by City Life organizer and Boston M.C. Twice Thou at the 2013 Honk Festival featuring the radical activist brass band Rude Mechanical Orchestra.

This 30-minute film documents the making of a full-length screenplay-a musical suspense drama about the housing market’s gentrifying foreclosure crisis and economic meltdown. When the economy crashed in 2007, a loving dad, hip-hop artist, fashion entrepreneur and home owner fell on hard times. A looming foreclosure separated his family until he becomes a community organizer/housing rights activist who helps struggling tenants and homeowners stay in their homes. From predatory loans to policy change, the social movement's fight against Bank of America descended upon their downtown Boston office headquarters and doorsteps of the CEO's home in historical furor. What happens after that is one fight Bank of America won't soon forget!

City Life/Vida Urbana member Maria Baptista and organizer Antonio Ennis talk about efforts to clear up mortgage troubles at properties in Dorchester with evicting former owners. Interview for BNN News. Aired March 20, 2015.

City Life/Vida Urbana organizes a protest on behalf of residents faced with displacement on account of the hot housing market in East Boston. Report for BNN News. Aired May 12, 2016

SUNDAY, MAY 21ST, 2017: Renters in a large apartment building in Dorchester rallied to prevent their displacement. Wallace Properties, their landlord, is raising rents sharply while many tenants complain of bad conditions. Dozens joined the Victory Road Tenant Association to support their collective voice for affordable rents and community stability.

Antonio Ennis, the Dorchester Community Organizer for City Life/Vida Urbana organized a rally for tenants facing eviction, rent increases and no leases, with the ultimate goal of keeping these families in their homes and avoiding homelessness, displacement as those are conditions that destabilize communities of color.

Antonio Ennis, the Dorchester Community Organizer for City Life/Vida Urbana helped marshal a youth organized march and rally from Suffolk County Jail at Nashua Street to City Hall to protest federal budget cuts to youth jobs. On this day, he delivers another one of his signature Rally Rhymes addressing many issues related to government budget cuts.

Antonio Ennis, the Dorchester Community Organizer for City Life/Vida Urbana helped marshal a youth organized march and rally from Suffolk County Jail at Nashua Street to City Hall to protest federal budget cuts to youth jobs. On this day, he delivers another one of his signature Rally Rhymes addressing many issues related to government budget cuts.

Antonio Ennis, the Dorchester Community Organizer for City Life/Vida Urbana delivers another one of his signature Rally Rhymes at the closing of a 3-Day company retreat for staff solidarity, skill & morale building.

Antonio Ennis, the Dorchester Community Organizer for City Life/Vida Urbana helped to organize a rally for a CLVU member facing foreclosure. The goal is to keep this family in their home and community and avoid homelessness and displacement, as those are conditions that destabilize communities of color.

Antonio Ennis, the Dorchester Community Organizer for City Life/Vida Urbana helped lead a contingent of hundreds of tenants and organizers to the State House to advocate for Rent Control to be put on the ballot for November 2026. On this day, he delivers another one of his signature Rally Rhymes with a heartfelt felt memorial to his friend and CLVU leader Mr. Derwin Gordon, who unfortunately passed away weeks prior to this action while Antonio Ennis/Twice Thou was helping him fight back against foreclosure of his home.

Antonio Ennis, the Dorchester Community Organizer for City Life/Vida Urbana shares his story of how he became and has been a Community Organizer for the past 14 years. On this day, he delivers another one of his signature Rally Rhymes addressing the need for Rent Control, forming Tenant Associations, community stabilization through community land trusts, non-profit property acquisition and movement building.

Antonio Ennis, the Dorchester Community Organizer for City Life/Vida Urbana shares his story of how he became and has been a Community Organizer for the past 14 years. On this day, he delivers another one of his signature Rally Rhymes addressing the need for Rent Control, forming Tenant Associations, community stabilization through community land trusts, non-profit property acquisition and movement building.