UHAB

This is how affordable housing residents built community through cooperation in 2020! Neighbors are checking in on each other, gathering to share food safely and combat isolation, and organizing to defend their neighbors from eviction. Residents are coming together in new ways, but the risks to their housing are also greater than ever before. Hundreds of thousands of tenants are at risk of eviction, and more than half of affordable co-ops have lost income over the pandemic. UHAB is training residents to take over their housing for safe homes and lasting affordability - but we need your help! Go to uhab.org/donate to make a contribution.

Our monthly newsletter to HDFC shareholders has financial resources, announcements, and important reminders for HDFC co-ops. In this month's HDFC News: Sign up for a remote election, stay ahead of the Local Law 152 gas piping inspection, and apply for a small grant from Cooperative Economics Alliance of New York City. Read the newsletter here: https://conta.cc/3oPw8a6

Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition and the Bronx CLT are hosting a town hall on community ownership of land! Come out and support Bronx residents in community-based measures to stop displacement and protect affordability.

Today, UHAB wanted to share an older article about New York City's the tax lien sale. The tax lien sale happens in every year and is an event that allows large banks to buy debt from landlords, often leading to tenant abuse and further mismanagement. Due to Covid-19, Governor Cuomo has postponed the sale several times, most recently until after November 3rd, but there's a lot of compelling evidence to suggest that NYers might be better off without it. Read about it here: https://gothamist.com//is-nyc-squandering-affordable-housi

A great win for co-ops coming out of the Twin Cities! These tenants were able to purchase their housing complex and have control over their housing instead of their negligent and predatory landlord. From the article: "One of those solutions is the creation of democratically controlled affordable housing... In this world, there is no whatever-the-market-will-bear rent setting. Indeed, there are no landlords. But the end goal isn’t simply to transform all renters into homeowners, each family on its own mortgage, but to reform the fundamental way we live by decommodifying housing." https://www.nytimes.com//rental-housing-crisis-minneapolis

FILM SCREENING: Wednesday, October 28 at 6 pm Register here: https://cutt.ly/OurOwn Join us for a special co-op month film screening of A House of Our Own, a 25-minute film from 1975 about two groups of tenants taking over their own housing against the backdrop of white flight, the Upper West Side Urban Renewal Area, and the 1970s fiscal crisis. ... The film will be followed by a talkback on how the urban homesteaders' response to this moment of crisis relates to the current day. REGISTER HERE: cutt.ly/OurOwn

We are thrilled to announce that UHAB Organizers and their work with HOPE: Housing Organizers for People Empowerment is being recognized at the Brooklyn Legal Services 2020 Champion of Justice Awards. It is our immense privilege to be honored alongside Valerie B. Jarrett, Senior Distinguished Fellow at The University of Chicago Law School and senior advisor to the Obama Foundation. Please join us on the evening of October 20th as we accept this award. We are so grateful for the support of Brooklyn Legal Services that helps protect and empower tenants in Brooklyn.

Is your housing co-op a member of UHAB? Do you want to explore how to build power with other kinds of cooperatives - food, work, gardens and more? Well we have just the event for you coming up on 10.22. Join us!

UHAB is thrilled to announce the launch of our new website, uhab.org! Go check out the site to stay connected to our work and for all of your HDFC needs!

We're running 2 environmental justice webinars with Solar One! and Cooper Square Committee next week. Don't miss guest speakers Valerio Orselli from This Land is Ours CLT and Juan Parra from Solar One. Wednesday: https://bit.ly/3ie6Rmy Thursday: https://bit.ly/3368BrD

There's a long historical precedent for TOPA (Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act), which would allow renters a shot at buying their buildings when they're up for sale. https://www.nytimes.com///01/us/coronavirus-evictions.html

Check out this great win for community control coming out of Philadelphia! The city of Philadelphia has agreed to provide 50 vacant homes to currently unhoused people as a part of a community land trust. https://www.phillyvoice.com/philadelphia-city-homeless-enc/

Join us at 6 today for our workshop on #coopsgosolar, the program that has brought clean energy and cost savings to over 25 HDFC coops! We'll start with a discussion about co-ops go solar and then take a tour of 660 St Nicholas Ave, the first HDFC to go solar in Harlem. Register for a webinar at uhab.coop/calendar, or DM us for more info.

Come learn how HDFC co-op residents are taking the lead in a just transition to clean energy! Solar protects the health of our communities and keeps affordable housing affordable by reducing energy bills. Register for a webinar at uhab.coop/calendar, or DM us for more info.

Who’s most affected by power outages in New York City? These maps show power outage complaints overlaid with affordable co-ops. Power outages are dangerous, especially for residents who rely on electric medical equipment. Central Brooklyn, Upper Manhattan, and the West Bronx, all communities of color home to affordable HDFC co-ops, face worse electrical service from Con Edison.

UHAB is a proud member of the Climate Works For All coalition. Read the op-ed by amazing youth leader Scott Siegel to learn why the Climate and Community Stimulus Platform is what we need to address the overlapping crises of climate change, racism, unemployment, and COVID-19. https://www.gothamgazette.com//9703-the-climate-and-econom