Demonstrators call for more protection for tenants
By Insanul Ahmed
insanulahmed@yahoo.com
Photo by Mother On the Move
Residents of Hunts Point and Longwood on the march for affordable housing.
After three years of paying $1,420 a month for an apartment on Kelly Street that she says is in terrible shape and getting worse, 38-year-old Wanda Peralta has had enough. Despite being a disabled single mother, Peralta gave up a day to travel to Manhattan and join 5,000 demonstrators from all five boroughs calling for more and better affordable housing.
Peralta wasn’t the only person from Hunts Point who was ready to fight back by joining a citywide coalition called “New York Is Our Home.” Two dozen other tenants from the neighborhood boarded a bus at Mothers On the Move headquarters on Intervale Avenue on May 23 to rally at Stuyvesant Town and march for affordable rents.
“WHAT DO WE WANT?! AFFORDABLE HOUSING! WHEN DO WE WANT IT?! NOW!” screamed Peralta, as she chanted with others at the rally.
Another marcher who wanted to make her voice heard was 51-year-old Paulette New, who claimed she knew why landlords treated tenants so poorly and why government agencies were so slow to respond.
“I don’t want to say it’s always about money, but it’s always about the money,” she said with a laugh. “The landlords keep the tenants uninformed, and then they take advantage of the tenants who don’t know their rights.”
New said she hoped the rally would raise awareness about rent issues among tenants. Mothers On The Move organizer Mark Swier said the demonstration’s goal was to call for a broad-based set of demands to be met to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to safe and affordable housing.
The rally itself focused on a variety of housing issues.
Marchers said they want to repeal the legislation that permits rents to become unregulated once an apartment costs $2,000 a month or more.
Another important issue, according to Mothers on the Move, is preserving Section 8, the federal program that subsidizes housing for low-income families and individuals. Limiting rent increases to people living with HIV/AIDs and the elderly was also high on the agenda.
The rally was held at the huge Stuyvesant Town apartment complex because it was built to offer housing to working class and middle class New Yorkers, but has been sold to one of the city’s real estate barons, who, according to Swier, hopes to raise rents to market rates.
Mothers On the Move began its march at 23rd Street and 1st Avenue and walked all the way to Union Square. As the march wound downtown, some passersby came over to ask how they could get involved.
Hunts Point resident Raymond Rios, 15, said he came to the rally because he feared that the poor would be driven out of Hunts Point.
“White people see nice cheap houses in Hunts Point and now they want to move in here and kick us out,” said Rios.
He said he felt by going to the rally he could help stop gentrification.
Others seemed to show up because they simply felt it was time to fight back.
“You can’t just sit back and take what they dish out,” said 63-year-old Gwendolyn Peterson, who has belonged to Mothers On the Move for 10 years. “You see injustice, you got to speak up.”
At the end of the day, most of the Mothers On the Move members were satisfied with the rally, commenting on how many people showed up and how many others took notice. Joyce Culler observed with approval that members of various races and ethic groups showed up to the rally.
Still, she said, there is more to do. “The next step is to get the attention of and talk to our local politicians. We’re just getting started.”