NY’s Eviction Moratorium Has Expired. Now What?
More than 200,000 households are at risk of being displaced since NY Gov. Kathy Hochul allowed the state’s eviction moratorium to expire Friday at midnight. In the middle of the winter. Amid a massive surge in COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant. Because it’s time to get back to “normal.”
In the face of this official indifference, tenant activists have rallied in recent days on Billionaire’s Row on 57th St. in Manhattan, in front of Hochul’s Midtown office and outside the Brooklyn Housing Court where they burned eviction notices on Saturday and vowed to return on Tuesday when eviction proceedings resume. Indypendent videographer Ken Lopez has been chronicling the action.
Video: 18 Arrested in Last-Ditch Eviction Moratorium Protest Outside Hochul’s Midtown Office
By Ken Lopez
Video: Tenant Activists Burn Eviction Notices Outside Brooklyn Housing Court, Vow to Return Tuesday
By Ken Lopez
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Now that the eviction moratorium has expired, tenant activists are also stepping up their demands that the state legislature pass the Good Cause Eviction bill that would curtail the power of landlords to evict tenants and tie rent increases to the rate of inflation. Good Cause Eviction laws have passed in several upstate cities and towns, and the same tenant coalition that won historic rent law reforms in 2019 wants to finish the job in Albany this spring.
Good Cause Eviction Tops Tenants’ 2022 Agenda
By Steven Wishnia
As temperatures plummet, you have a right to heat and hot water in your apartment if you are a New York City tenant. For more on your rights and how to defend them, read Turn Up The Heat on Your Landlord by Steven Wishnia.
From The Archives
In the spring of 2019, tenant activists from across New York State united to win historic rent law reforms and leave the real estate industry reeling. At the height of the struggle, we came out with a Housing Justice Special Issue that highlighted the issues at stake, the movements that were organizing, the politicians that were obstructing. It also included a “Tenants vs. Landlords” boardgame (fun for the whole family!) in the center spread.
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Climate Action
The pandemic isn’t the only crisis that has been met with a failed bipartisan response. In Albany, state leaders are doing little to move New York toward being at the forefront of the wind and solar energy revolution. On Thursday, members of the NYC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America marched on Gov. Hochul’s Midtown office to demand sweeping climate action. Ten people were arrested for blocking traffic including Assemblywoman Marcela Mitaynes. She represents Sunset Park and Red Hook, two communities that were battered by Hurricane Sandy.
Photo by Sue Brisk
Video: Build or Burn Rally for Climate Action
By Ken Lopez
Photos: Build or Burn Rally for Climate Action
By Sue Brisk
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Meet Ken Lopez
Ken Lopez covers everything from Fashion Week to crime and fires for conventional media outlets. In his spare time, he pursues his true passion: covering just about every march, protest and rally you could think of for The Indypendent. For more about our hard-charging videographer and what inspires him, click here.
Indy Radio News Update
The Indypendent News Hour returns to the airwaves on WBAI-99.5 FM Tuesday 5-6 pm with another fantastic show. We’ll hear from public school students who walked out of their classes last week to protest unsafe conditions in their buildings amid the latest surge of COVID-19.
Marcela Mitaynes. Illustration by Leia Doran.
We’ll also speak with Bronx public school parent and former AOC staffer Jonathan Soto who is running for a State Assembly as a champion of replacing mayoral control of schools with community control. And we’ll hear from Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes about her first year in office, why she got arrested at Thursday’s climate demo and the prospects for moving bold progressive legislation in Albany this year. Our show also streams live on wbai.org and is rebroadcasted on 99.5 FM Wednesdays from 5-6 am.
Happy Martin Luther King Day! One special event we would like to call your attention to is a virtual “tour” examining the organizing vision and struggles of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through the lens of his visits to New York — and in particular to the neighborhood of Harlem. The tour begins at 7 p.m. and will be facilitated by Michael Higgins Jr. of Social Justice Walking Tours with Harlem-born and raised writer, activist and cultural historian Kazembe Balagun as guest speaker. For more, click here.
We’re doing it all — print, video, radio, web, social media and this weekly newsletter — on a shoestring budget. If you’ve already donated during our winter fund drive, thank you! If you haven’t given yet, please consider doing so today. We need the support of readers like you to keep up this pace throughout 2022. Become a monthly sustainer for as little as $10 per month, or make a generous one-time contribution. Every little bit helps!