**Due to inclement weather, the event will be relocated to For the Many's Newburgh office at 473 Broadway.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 13, 2022
CONTACTS: For the Many - Aaron Fernando, aaron@forthemany.org, (646) 732-1518
Community Voices Heard - Sharee Powell, sharee@cvhaction.org, (845) 770-7205
THURSDAY: With Newburgh’s Good Cause Law Blocked, Tenants & Electeds to Rally for Statewide Tenant Protections in 2023
This will be one of many simultaneous rallies held across the state to launch Housing Justice for All’s “Our Homes, Our Power” legislative agenda for the 2023 session.
Package includes statewide Good Cause eviction protections and other policies to keep rents affordable, give tenants more power to fight for safe and decent living conditions, and give all New Yorkers access to permanent, stable housing.
NEWBURGH, N.Y. – On Thursday, December 15th at 1pm, tenants and elected officials will rally outside the City Court of Newburgh with grassroots organizations For the Many and Community Voices Heard (both members of the Housing Justice for All coalition). They will launch the “Our Homes, Our Power” legislative package, an expansive set of tenant protections for the 2023 session that includes statewide Good Cause Eviction protections.
The launch comes mere weeks after several Newburgh slumlords successfully convinced a state judge to block the city’s local Good Cause law on state preemption grounds. Last year, Newburgh became the third city in the state to pass Good Cause, after sustained organizing by For the Many and Community Voices Heard.
As the case works its way through the courts, Newburgh tenants will be vulnerable to unaffordable rent increases and evictions without cause—just like millions of tenants across New York. If courts won’t allow cities to protect their tenants—as another judge in Kingston ruled last month—then the state must act now to protect them.
WHO: For the Many & Community Voices Heard with local tenants & elected officials:
Rene Mejia, Newburgh Community Organizer, For the Many
Bravhan Ranga, Political Director, For the Many
Dale Velazquez, Newburgh member, Community Voices Heard
Evan Menist, Poughkeepsie Common Council Majority Leader, Ward 2
Michele Hirsch, Kingston Common Council Alderwoman, Ward 9
Attorney from the Hudson Valley Justice Center
WHAT: Rally to launch Housing Justice for All’s Our Homes, Our Power campaign, including statewide Good Cause after a judge blocked Newburgh’s local law
WHEN: Thursday, December 15th at 1pm
WHERE: For the Many’s Newburgh office (473 Broadway)
If weather/time permit, there may be a 5-minute walk to an Acevedo building.
LIVESTREAM: The rally will be livestreamed on For the Many’s Facebook page.
BACKGROUND: New Yorkers are facing a record housing crisis, with rents, evictions, and homelessness at historic highs. Rents across New York City are up more than 30% from 2021-2022, and rent costs have spiked in cities across NY, from the Hudson Valley to Albany to Rochester. Meanwhile, evictions are surging back to pre-pandemic levels, and homelessness has reached levels not seen since the Great Depression.
In the face of this crisis, Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams have proposed more of the same: expanding housing development programs that benefit private developers, have done little to expand housing stock, and do nothing to protect tenants who are at risk of losing their homes now.
Tenants and homeless New Yorkers aren’t waiting for the real estate industry to solve the crisis. They’re coming together to demand that Albany pass real solutions that will ensure everybody in New York can afford a safe and decent home and have the power to fight exploitative landlords and unsafe living conditions.
Dozens of state elected officials and hundreds of tenants and homeless New Yorkers will rally in cities across New York to launch their push for the Our Homes, Our Power legislative package, a set of five bold measures to let all New Yorkers afford a safe and decent home and fight exploitative and abusive landlords:
Good Cause Eviction Protections: Give New Yorkers more power to fight exorbitant rent increases and unjust evictions.
Housing Access Voucher Program: Set up a statewide rental subsidy program for low-income New Yorkers who are homeless, facing eviction, or at risk of losing their housing.
Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act: Give tenants the right to collectively decide the future of their building when it’s up for sale and a tool to more effectively fight for safer and better living conditions.
Emergency Tenant Protection Act and Rent Guidelines Board Reforms: Make the process for determining rental rates for rent-controlled and rent-stabilized apartments more fair and democratic by giving tenants a stronger voice in the process.
Social Housing: Create a pathway to build publicly-backed housing that is insulated from market forces and lets residents exert democratic control over their homes.
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For the Many is building a grassroots movement of everyday people to transform the Hudson Valley & New York so it works for all of us, not the greedy few.
Community Voices Heard (CVH) is a member-led, multi-racial organization principally comprised of women of color & low-income families in New York State. CVH tackles tough issues & builds power to secure racial, social & economic justice for all New Yorkers.
Housing Justice for All is a statewide coalition of more than 80 organizations representing tenants & homeless New Yorkers, united in our fight for housing as a human right.