News

Mayor de Blasio’s Plan Aims to Spur More Affordable Housing in New York

Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling for an overhaul of housing programs and tax incentives to spur the construction of tens of thousands of apartments for poor New Yorkers, as well as teachers, firefighters and other workers, who increasingly find themselves priced out of a booming real estate market and rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. …MORE Citation…

Rally Held Against Luxury Rental Tower, 421a in PLG

Over in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, a group of protestors led by the Alliance for Tenant Power recently staged a rally against 626 Flatbush Avenue, a luxury high-rise currently taking shape near Prospect Park. The event was held in part to protest the ever-controversial 421-a tax abatement program, which developer Hudson Companies falls under. According to Gothamist,…

421a Protesters Rally Against PSG Development

A controversial Prospect-Lefferts Gardens development attracted protesters this week, angered over both the luxury project and the 421a tax abatement program. The Alliance for Tenant Power staged the rally against the 254-unit residential building at 626 Flatbush Avenue Thursday, according to Curbed. Around 75 protestors attended and politicians Diana Richardson and Shirley Patterson both spoke…

Activists Blast Jeffrey Klein for His Ties to the Real Estate Industry

Tenant activists are taking aim at one Democratic state senator for his close ties to the city’s real estate industry. Alliance for Tenant Power, a liberal pro-tenants organization, is planning a series of tweets and Facebook memes blasting State Senator Jeffrey Klein, a Bronx Democrat and leader of the Independence Democratic Conference. The group is…

NYC’s Endangered Species: A Rent-Controlled Apartment

They are the dama gazelles of the New York City rental market. From a high of more than 2 million in the 1950’s, there are now only 27,000 “rent-controlled” apartments in the city – down from 38,000 just three years ago. Rent-controlled tenants live in buildings built before 1947 and have lived there continuously since…

NYC Tenant Advocates and Elected Officials Call for Rent Freeze and Home Rule

New York 10/01/2014 by Linda Perry Barr (WBAI) “Albany, Give rent regulations back to NYC.” That’s the message from Elected Officials and Tenant Advocates at an affordable housing rally at City Hall on Tuesday. They want the 1971 Urstadt Law, which gave control of the City’s rent regulations to Albany, repealed and control returned to…

Ways to Lose Your Rent-Stabilized Apartment

Thursday, August 21, 2014 By Janet Babin : Economic Development Reporter, WNYC News Mayor Bill de Blasio set an ambitious affordable housing agenda, promising the city he would build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade. The administration has made clear that a majority of those units will come from preserving…

Affordable Housing and Renters’ Rights on the Next “Represent NYC”

Did you know that 80 percent of poor renters in rent-regulated apartments pay rent that is more than 50 percent of their income, up from 64 percent in 2005?* Statistics like these illustrate the pressing need to address the issues surrounding affordable housing and renters’ rights. In the August 3 episode of “Represent NYC,” State…