March 9, 2022
Hinchey's Campaign Kickoff Crashed By Protesters
Read more
HOUSING
FOR THE MANY.
Join Our Movement
A roof over all of our heads
ENDING EVICTIONS AND HOMELESSNESS. FOREVER.
Our current housing system is set up to enrich the few instead of providing affordable, sustainable, and accessible housing for all. Half of New York State is paying more in rent than they can afford. Millions of families don’t have any rights to renew their lease, and are living in constant fear of eviction. We believe every single person should be guaranteed a safe and healthy home, and that’s exactly what we’re fighting for.
49%
of New Yorkers spend over 30% of their income on housing
5.5 Million
households have no protections from eviction
78,000
New Yorkers are homeless
OUR APPROACH
PUTTING POWER BACK IN THE HANDS OF RENTERS AND HOMEOWNERS
The housing crisis in New York has never been more dire, and the movement for housing justice has never been stronger. We’ve organized tenants across the Hudson Valley to fight for bills that will strengthen renters’ rights and put an end to homelessness and displacement—and we’ve been winning. In 2024, we passed Good Cause Eviction at the state level and began organizing municipal campaigns to strengthen the law locally. As a steering committee member of the statewide coalition Housing Justice for All, we’re fighting to expand rent stabilization and lower housing costs for all New Yorkers.
LEGISLATION
BILLS ON THE TABLE
Good Cause Eviction Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants (REST) Act Social Housing Development Authority Homes Are Not Hotels Housing Access Voucher Program Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act
Good Cause Eviction
Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants (REST) Act
Social Housing Development Authority
Homes Are Not Hotels
Housing Access Voucher Program
Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act
Good Cause Eviction would give millions of tenants the right to a renewal lease and protect against predatory rent increases and unfair evictions. In 2024, we passed a statewide version of the law, but landlords and real estate developers succeeded at weakening it—so we’re organizing to protects as many tenants as possible by passing local versions of the law. Local Good Cause—which we’ve passed in Kingston and Poughkeepsie—can provide unprecedented protections for renters, creating a more stable housing market, promoting community well-being, and rewarding landlords who follow the rules.
Good Cause Eviction will put power back in the hands of tenants across New York, one municipality at a time.
The REST Act would make it easier for upstate NY municipalities to opt-in to rent stabilization by removing costly and arbitrary requirements that are barriers to upstate municipalities opting in – like requiring a costly vacancy study, and only covering buildings with 6 or more units built before 1974.
Passing the REST Act will protect tenants from exorbitant rent increases and keep our communities affordable.
New York needs more affordable housing, now and for the long-term. Establishing a statewide Social Housing Development Authority would create a new purpose for the housing market: to provide people with homes, not to line the pockets of corporate landlords and real estate developers. By giving the state capacity to acquire distressed real estate assets, rehabilitate them, and transfer these buildings from the private real estate market to communities’ control, we can ensure all New Yorkers have a safe, stable home.
The New York Social Housing Development Authority (SHDA) would build and maintain affordable housing outside the for-profit real estate market and expand opportunities for people to access stable housing.
Vacation rentals (like AirBnbs and Vrbos) play a significant role in limiting our housing stock and driving up rents, home prices, and property taxes. Absentee investors are buying up huge swaths of our housing stock and turning them into vacation rentals for tourists instead of renting or selling to long-term Hudson Valley residents.
We’re fighting to pass laws locally that will tackle this issue head-on—and we’re winning. Kingston has already passed a law that requires short-term rental hosts to prove that their listing is their primary residence, and Poughkeepsie is soon to follow. Municipalities will be able to issue hefty fines to absentee hosts and platforms for listings that violate the law.
The Housing Access Voucher Program creates a rental assistance program for New Yorkers who are currently homeless or at risk of homelessness, including undocumented New Yorkers and those who are not currently on public assistance.
The Housing Access Voucher Program will help end homelessness in New York state.
The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act would give tenants the right of first refusal if their landlord decides to sell their building, letting tenants buy the building together and own it as a cooperative, turn the building into publicly owned housing, or work with a nonprofit to create a permanently affordable rental. The law would also help tenants fight for better conditions in the buildings they currently live in by reducing the incentive for landlords to keep buildings in disrepair to sell them off to the highest buyer.
