People’s Action member groups Community Voices Heard, Citizen Action of New York, and VOCAL-NY are celebrating the protections they won for more than 1.5 million tenants in New York State who are now protected from landlords who seek to throw tenants out to raise rents.
This is the result of the multiple years of organizing efforts of CVH, CANY, VOCAL-NY and other groups in the Housing Justice for All coalition. The victory also follows the groups’ powerful New York City town hall in April, where more than three hundred tenants met with city officials to demand they address the housing crisis.
In Poughkeepsie, in addition to enacting good cause protections, the City Council voted unanimously to opt in to the state’s rent stabilization law.
They passed the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, authorizing the creation of a Rent Guidelines Board that will set yearly maximum allowable rent adjustments on units protected by the state law. The measure is expected to benefit the residents of around 1,500 units which were built before 1974.
“This is such an exciting moment that we’ve been working towards for so long,” said longtime Poughkeepsie resident Linda Bartee, a member-leader of Community Voices Heard in Dutchess County. “My neighbors and I can rest a little easier in our homes tonight. But the fight isn’t over yet — we’ll continue to organize to expand these protections for all Poughkeepsie tenants.”
In July, Bartee attended the People’s Action Strategy Summit in Minneapolis, along with New York City chapter leader Rosa Torres, CVH Policy Director Britny McKenzie, and CVH Executive Director Juanita Lewis.
CVH is also holding training sessions at its chapters throughout the state. to introduce its members to the fundamentals of organizing through its Ella Baker School for Organizing.