On a cool Saturday morning last fall, Brooklyn residents gathered at Baptist Church of the Redeemer in Flatbush, seeking inspiration and support in their struggle to improve their housing conditions.
“Over the years, I’ve worked with three tenant groups, and Flatbush Tenant Coalition is different,” says Jean Folkes, a steering committee member. “With the Coalition, we tenants work together to take care of things ourselves,” says Folkes. “We get educated on how the whole system works and how we can make the changes we need.”
At this particular meeting, members of the Homewood Gardens tenant association are celebrating a small but crucial victory. Using information gathered about their housing conditions, the coalition has convinced the state to take action. “Governor Cuomo served a subpoena on our landlord for the harassment and to get the landlord to stop overcharging tenants,” says Marquetta Bell, a tenant leader. “And together with South Brooklyn Legal Services we are fighting to get repairs and to stop the discrimination.”
Bell was instrumental in conducting an intensive outreach to her Homewood Gardens neighbors, and with help from other tenant leaders, significantly increased the number of active tenants in the campaign.
“We went and spoke with all our neighbors, all our tenants,” says Bell. “We did surveys to show how our landlord was harassing and discriminating against us. He wasn’t giving us repairs, and was taking people to court when they did nothing wrong. And when long-term tenants left, he would renovate their apartments with beautiful stainless steel appliances and countertops. And he raised the rents and said the apartments were not rent stabilized, which isn’t true.”
The subpoena that tenant leaders are celebrating will disclose all documents relating to Homewood Gardens as well as the landlord’s other properties in New York City – obtaining documents on this scale is crucial for establishing fraud.
Neighborhood residents receive political education training through the Coalition to become effective advocates for themselves and their communities. “We are afforded and many of us have taken advantage of trainings and workshops sponsored by the New York Foundation and the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development,” says Folkes. On this particular Saturday morning, Dara Silverman, an organizational development consultant, and Maurice Mitchell of the New York State Civic Engagement Table (also a New York Foundation grantee partner), led a conversation about oppression.
As members of Homewood Gardens spoke about their win, other Coalition leaders saw new possibilities for their own campaigns and had a strengthened sense of purpose. “The fight is not easy, and seeing what Homewood Gardens is accomplishing reminds us that we are on the road to victory,” says Folkes.
In April 2011, 22 tenant leaders representing 11 different tenant associations came together to work on common issues and formed the Flatbush Tenant Coalition with the help of Flatbush Development Corporation. They sought out to build power in the community by developing skilled, informed, and active tenant leaders who grow and develop tenant associations, lead tenants’ rights campaigns, and advocate for policies that protect tenants. Today, the Coalition’s 41 member associations represent approximately 15,000 rent-regulated tenants. The Coalition plays a leadership role in a boroughwide effort to reform Brooklyn’s Housing Court and is a part of other citywide housing campaigns.
