At PACC, our organizing team is dedicated to preventing displacement, organizing for safe housing, and preserving subsidized and stabilized housing. We do this through our programs and organizing work with tenants living in rent-stabilized apartments, unregulated housing, and Project Based Section 8 buildings. Community organizing is based upon the belief that those affected by issues must play a leading role in developing solutions and mobilizing for their implementation. At PACC, we do this by creating relationships between tenants, landlords and small homeowners, identifying common needs and providing training to create local leaders, and running issue-oriented campaigns that use direct action tactics to win progressive change. Our community organizing program affirms that the solutions to the problems that affect our neighborhood and city reside in the people being directly impacted.
PACC holds a Monthly Community Organizing meeting on the third (3rd) Thursday of each month, where residents come together to discuss campaigns, learn about new issues, and decide plans of action. Additionally, we are open for any general questions on the first (1st) Saturday of each month from 10am - 1pm. For more information about our next Community Organizing meeting, please call:
Juanita Edwards* at 718-522-2613 x 24 or Jonathan Furlong* at 718-522-2613 x 25
With the loss of nearly 3,000 units of rent stabilized housing in Brooklyn as of 2009, PACC’s work to preserve rent regulated and federally subsidized affordable housing is more important than ever. PACC continues to fight to preserve federally subsidized Section 8 housing and other types of affordable rental housing in the community. Our battle against predatory equity and its attempts to eliminate affordable housing in our community continues.
Noteworthy Milestones
PACC’s organizing team has played an active role in organizing and empowering tenants through local and city-wide changes. In recent years, these accomplishments include the following:
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Spring of 2003: With the assistance of start up grants from Deutsche Bank and the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, PACC initiated a major lead paint campaign in Central Brooklyn. This project illuminated the widespread dangers of lead paint in the community where 1 in every 3 homes tested with dangerous levels. PACC produced a follow-up report in 2004 (Politics of Poison.pdf).
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2004: Victory on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act (Local Law 1 of 2004) for mandatory lead paint removal by landlords in housing and day care facilities.
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Spring of 2008: Victory on Intro 61-A which makes it illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants based upon any source of income, such as Section 8 vouchers or public assistance.
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Spring of 2008: Victory on Tenant Protection Act (Local Law 7) which created new tenant protections in NYC against landlord harassment.
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Winter of 2009: Worked toward repealing vacancy decontrol in New York States.
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Assisted more than 200 tenants through one-on-one tenant counseling in 2010.
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PACC assisted 48 buildings, helping to form 12 new tenant associations and providing technical assistance to 36 additional tenant associations.
Real Rent Reform
Pratt Area Community Council’s Community Organizing department is working closely with our allies in the Real Rent Reform Campaign to ensure that NYS rent laws are renewed without weakening amendments. The NYS rent laws sunset in June 2011.
Last year PACC chaired most of the steering committee meetings, and were active participants in Senator Dilan’s strategy group. We organized the first advocacy and lobbying trainings of the campaign and developed the materials that will be used in other trainings. PACC also brought two new leaders into campaign strategy sessions. Along with PACC Leadership Group members, we meet with local elected officials in Albany and in their districts to discuss the importance of legislative changes. In 2010, we traveled to Albany seven times bringing anywhere from 4 to 20 community residents and activists up from Brooklyn. We are taking a leadership position in Brooklyn and organizing major town hall meetings and outreach activities to inform tenants of the impact of the sun-setting laws. The Real Rent Reform campaign is a coalition of housing, community, and labor groups fighting to pass progressive legislation to protect tenants and preserve affordable housing. Without these laws, over a million rent regulated tenants will lose their protections.
For more information visit http://www.realrentreform.org/