Last
Saturday, tenants from across the city flooded the Annual Black and Latino
Caucus in Albany,
calling on legislators to repeal Vacancy Decontrol!
Over two
hundred tenants and leaders descended on the capital, calling on members and
participants of the caucus to repeal vacancy decontrol. Tenants spent hours
passing out flyers, handing out stickers, and collecting signatures demanding
the passage of the Senate bill that would signal the most significant win for
tenants in more than three decades.
Tenants
held a press conference and rally at the Legislative Office
Building, followed with
the Caucus workshop on Housing. We were joined by Senators Andrea Stewart
Cousins and Bill Perkins and our allies Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries. Tenant
leaders moved the crowd, including Julia Boyd of ACORN, Joseph Ferdinand and
Ramona Santana of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, Narcisa of Make the Road NY and Cathy Stephans of Community Voices Heard.
Senator
Andrea Stewart Cousins announced she introduced the bill to repeal vacancy
decontrol in the Senate as S2237. It already has 23 co-sponsors, and needs only
9 more votes to win. The fight is on to get every Senator we can signed on to
the bill in the coming weeks.
We closed
the day marching through the concourse on their way to the buses, chanting so
loudly that there could be no mistaking what everyone was there for.
The repeal
of vacancy decontrol would halt the loss of tens of thousands of affordable
apartments from New York City.We need to keep the pressure on to carry the bill
through the Senate! Check out who has already signed on:
Has your
Senator signed on?
GREAT WORK
TO EVERYONE WHO TOOK THE LEAD!
Great work
to all the groups that made a special effort to turn out members for this
event, including Make the Road NY, ACORN, Community Voices Heard,
Housing Conservation Coordinators, Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy
Coalition, Tenants & Neighbors and Tenants PAC. This event could not have
happened with out all of your hard work and dedication to this effort.
NEXT STEPS
The
tentatively scheduled Lobby Visit to Albany
for Next Tuesday the 24th has been postponed. Stay tuned for an early-March
press conference, and many more actions to come.
We need to
do everything we can in pushing the Senate to pass the repeal of vacancy
decontrol. There are nine Senators who have not yet signed on. Let’s start
planning phone banks, district rallies, flyering, forums, and everything else
we can to get these Senators on-board with tenants. Get together with your
group and brainstorm actions you can take on.