Lower Manhattan Planning Meeting Tonight

• Lower Manhattan Planning Meeting : Come help plan the Lower Manhattan Borough Meeting this Thursday, March 29, at 6:30pm at 535 E. 5th St. For more information contact Wasim Lone from GOLES at (212) 533-2541 or by email.

Check the list of Borough Meetings to find the one nearest you.

Affordable Housing Borough Meeting Agenda

Join tenants, community members, faith leaders and elected officials at New York Is Our Home Borough Meetings to plan for the big May 23rd Kickoff Rally around Stuyvesant Town and send the message that New York Is Our Home!

We'll talk about:

• Why rents are getting so high
• What needs to happen in state and city government to make rent affordable
• How we can work together to WIN

Check the list of Borough Meetings to find the one nearest you.

Affordable Housing Debate Tonight

This should be good, and give a sneak peak into the arguments we'll hear against affordable housing.

• Debate on Rent Regulation : Should Governor Spitzer Enhance or Phase Out New York's Current System? : Craig Gurian, Executive Director of the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York, is debating Peter Salins, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, on the question of rent regulation and whether to enhance it or phase it out. Debate is Monday, March 26, at 6:30pm in the McNally Amphitheatre at Fordham Law School, 140 West 62nd Street.

Affordable Housing Events Friday and Sunday

Two affordable housing events are coming up, one Friday night and one on Sunday:

• Stop the Evictions Informational Picket this Friday night : The Salvation Army is evicting all of the tenants from two of its residences for low and moderate income women, the Ten Eyck and the Parkside, in order to sell the empty buildings for the highest price. Protest the evictions and the loss of more affordable housing at the Salvation Army's Spring Gala on Friday, March 23, from 6 to 6:30pm outside the New York Hilton (6th Avenue and W 53rd Street).
• Renters' Tax Credit Press Conference this Sunday at noon : Join City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, State Senator Diane Savino and State Assembly Member Keith Wright for a press conference to call for the Renters' Tax Credit, a $300 refundable tax credit for middle and low-income renters. Event is Sunday, March 25, at noon on the steps of City Hall.

Report From the Wednesday Meeting

Here's New York Is Our Home Campaign Director Julie Miles wrapping up last night's campaign meeting:

Thanks to all who turned out to Wednesday's meeting. With 200 people in attendance, a rousing theme song to get us started, and active participation in the planning for borough events leading up to our May 23rd rally at Stuy Town, the New York is Our Home campaign is moving.

Coming soon: details on the New York Is Our Home Borough Meetings in April and early May.

Campaign Meeting Tonight

You're invited to join us tonight to launch our coalition effort to preserve affordable rental housing. New York Is Our Home - let's make sure it stays that way!

All welcome. Please pass the word.

Campaign Meeting
THIS Wednesday, March 21
6:30 PM
UFT, 52 Broadway, 2nd Floor
(off Exchange Place in downtown Manhattan: closest station is 4/5 train to Wall St. )

Spanish translation will be provided. See you there tonight!

New York Is Our Home Platform: Endorse Today!

Millions of New Yorkers cannot afford a decent place to live. The most recent City data shows that 28% of New York City renters pay at least half of their income for rent. Thousands of affordable units in Mitchell-Lama and Section 8 buildings are being lost every year, public housing is being squeezed, and hundreds of thousands of rent-stabilized apartments have been lost to vacancy decontrol.

An unprecedented coalition including the Working Families Party, labor unions, and nearly every housing organization in New York City has united to form New York is Our Home. We want to cover more housing under rent stabilization rules, and we want rent regulations to be stronger. We're calling on the State to immediately:

Preserve Mitchell-Lama and Section 8 Housing

• Extend rent regulations to ALL Mitchell Lama and Section 8 buildings.
• Declare a moratorium on buyouts until a comprehensive preservation program is in place.
• Provide a tenant right of first refusal to purchase these buildings, at prices set by an appraisal board.
  

Preserve Rent-Regulated Units

• Repeal vacancy decontrol to eliminate the rent threshold that allows owners to decontrol units once a unit meets the threshold and become vacant.
• Prevent unfair rent increases by strengthening enforcement of the rent laws.
  

Preserve State-Built Public Housing

• Restore $70 million in funding for operating state public housing to the State budget to preserve 20,000 units of state public housing and help preserve thousands of Section 8 vouchers.

Limit Rental Payments for New Yorkers Living With AIDS

• End the State's discrimination against people living with AIDS who are being forced to contribute all income except $330 per month towards their rent. All other rental assistance programs cap the amount to just 30% of their income.

Sign the petition.