Dear John:
We're so excited to co-host tonight's virtual fundraiser and conversation with Brad Lander about the affordable housing & tenants rights challenges facing NYC in this urgent moment.
Brad has been a champion on affordable housing and tenants' rights issues for 25 years: through organizing and development at the Fifth Avenue Committee, community-based planning at the Pratt Center, and fighting for innovative and ambitious housing policy in the City Council.
In the wake of COVID-19 and the historic protests against systemic racism, it's imperative that we elect city leaders like Brad who never forget that housing is a human right, that housing is health care, that housing is a racial justice issue. Leaders who know how to make the tools of government work toward those goals, and who work in partnership with communities every step of the way.
We hope you can join us tonight! Thanks again,
Colvin Grannum, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
Cea Weaver, Housing Justice for All
(Organizations listed for identification purposes only.)
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Dear John:
Before Brad joined the City Council, he worked on affordable housing issues for 15 years as a nonprofit director, urban planner, and community organizer -- and he understands that housing is directly tied to the systemic racism that millions of Americans are protesting right now.
On Thursday, June 11, at 6:30 PM, Brad is joining a host of experts and advocates for an online grassroots fundraiser and discussion on housing and tenants’ rights in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis -- can you join us?
Yes, I'm there! I'll RSVP today →
I can't make it, but I'll donate to support the campaign →
New York City was already in the middle of a housing crisis before the pandemic struck. Nearly half of all New Yorkers pay more than 30% of their income in rent each month.
High housing costs mean there’s less left over for other expenses, never mind saving for an unexpected crisis like a pandemic. And Black and Latinx families are far more likely to live in neighborhoods with high asthma rates and struggling, underfunded schools.
Mayor de Blasio has proposed cutting City’s capital budget for affordable housing by 40% this year and next, leading to an estimated loss of 20,000 new and preserved affordable units over the next few years -- absolutely unacceptable.
We will continue to fight these cuts, but it’s also important to advocate for bold, systemic policy changes that are not only doable but necessary to preserve New York City as a place where anyone can live, work, and thrive.
Can you RSVP today for our online discussion on Thursday, June 11, at 6:30 PM?
Thank you so much -- please continue to stay safe and support each other,
-- Team Lander
P.S. Today, Brad is in the streets supporting protesters against police brutality and demanding justice for Jamel Floyd, who was incarcerated at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center and pepper-sprayed to death by Bureau of Prisons officers. Follow him on Twitter for live updates >>
