What if your apartment looked like this?

MRNY has teamed up with the Real Affordability for All campaign to push for affordable and safe housing across New York City. This spring, community residents, elected officials marched through Bushwick, Brooklyn to showcase several buildings where landlords are using abusive tactics to push tenants out of rent-regulated units and driving up rents in our communities.

During Mayor Bloomberg’s administration, NYC neighborhoods experienced an unprecedented wave of gentrification and displacement. From 2005-2011, 100,000 new units were built, but only 1,900 of those units — less than 2% — were affordable.[1] Meanwhile, 6,500 rent stabilized units on average were lost each year as landlords pushed longtime tenants out in order to jack up the rent.[2]

As a result, thousands of tenants are suffering abuse by their landlords and living in unsafe housing conditions.

Lilia Peréz, one of the many tenants highlighted in Sunday’s tour, has lived in her apartment for 27 years. Last October, a new landlord bought the building and has since intentionally neglected 20 housing code violations in an effort to pressure Lilia and her son to move out:

“I have leaky ceilings, peeling paint, a bathroom that is falling apart, and a stench of backed up sewage coming from the basement,” said Lilia. “No family should have to live like this, and Make the Road New York members refuse to let tactics like these push us out of our homes and our communities.”

Last year, with our allies in the “Our City, Our Homes” coalition, we proposed a housing platform for the mayor-to-be. As a candidate, Bill de Blasio committed to that platform, and now it’s time for him to put this plan into action.

Please sign our petition calling on Mayor de Blasio to ensure:

Creation of 200,000 units that are truly affordable for low-income families;
A crackdown on “bad actor” landlords who violate code enforcement rules; and
Preservation of all existing affordable housing.

Mayor de Blasio has committed to building 200,000 new affordable housing units over the next four years, but we need your help to make sure he goes further to address the full spectrum of New York City’s affordable housing cr isis. Click here to sign.

[1] “Housing Policy for a Strong and Equitable City” – ANHD 2013.
[2] “Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning: Developing Affordability for New York City’s Future” – ANHD 2011.