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Brooklynites know your rights!
-Need information about lease
renewals?
-Illegal
lockouts?
-Paying
back rent?
PACC's
legal clinics are now being held at our new office. 900 Fulton Street,
every 3rd Thursday of the month. flyer
PACC's
Community Org. Department is now open the first Saturday
of each month. Come by with your tenants rights questions or
just stop
in to say hello! flyer
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Click here
to find out how you can be the proud owner of a PACC Tshirt!
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PACC Talk April 2009
PACC TALK...
...Read about the pursuit of building an equitable, diverse, engaged
and flourishing community in central Brooklyn.
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Thanks to PACC, we are proud owners of a three family home in our
community!
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December
19th was a very proud day for Edwin and
Princess Diaz as they closed on their 3 family brownstone on Herkimer
street where
Princess and her family had lived as tenants for eleven
years. When PACC's
Home Services department fir st met with Ms.
Diaz, she was a single mom on
public assistance with 2 kids but she was determined to buy her home.
"They (PACC) were very honest with me, saying, 'if you wait
for someone to knock on your door and hand it to you, it will not
happen'." So Ms. Diaz got busy- she got a job in health
insurance, attended PACC's home
buyer classes and worked hard at cleaning up her credit. "If it weren't
for the
home buyer education that I got through PACC,
I would not be here today. I am proof of
the pudding that it can be done! If I can do it, anyone can!"
Ms.
Diaz is not the first tenant of a previously city or HUD
owned property to purchase their home from PACC.
Of the 31 homes developed by PACC through the Neighborhood
Homes (or 203K) program,
we have sold 8 to the existing tenants. Our
development team and home services staff is committed to qualifying
existing tenants for a
mortgage that is affordable for them. If the tenant has a
good work history, PACC will price the home to fit their income, and
adjust the price of a vacant home accordingly to cross subsidize the
sale. "We have sold a home to a family earning as
little as $32,000 a year," said Deb Howard, Executive
Director. "The
key is to provide individual mortgage and credit counseling and set
clear goals
for the prospective buyer to qualify for the home. PACC
is committed to giving long term residents the opportunity to remain in
the
community and purchase their home.
Sign up today
to be on our affordable home mailing list. |
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PACC's newest location on Fulton Street
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You
may have noticed a new sign at the entrance to the 2nd
floor of 896-900 Fulton Street. PACC's
Property
Management and Economic
Development departments moved from 218 Gates
and 201 Dekalb respectively, where they shared space with
other departments and
were very crowded, to new digs on Fulton
over the Embora Dance Studio. As of February 1st, we were open for
business in
the new location so, come and visit. The new number is (347) 823-5700.
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Breakfast on New Rent Regulations
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more  On Friday, March
27th, PACC hosted a breakfast on
New Rent Regulations: Changing Laws to Save Affordable Housing. Senator Eric Adams
sponsored the morning's event. Elana Shneyer, director of Community
Organizing,
facilitated the discussion. Panelists were: Michael
McKee, treasurer at Tenants Political
Action Committee, Dave Hanzel, Policy
Director at ANHD, and
Judith Goldiner, Supervising Attorney in the Law Reform
Unit at the Legal Aid Society.
Ron Languedoc, Esq., formerly of SBLS, was
inattendance and generously offered his advice to attendees with
questions.
Nearly 100 community residents enjoyed a delicious breakfast and
engaging discussion about potential changes to strengthen New York
States' rent
laws. With so many people in attendance
we had to simulcast the breakfast into the library  next door! The
repeal of vacancy decontrol was
emphasized as a key change to prevent the rapid loss of rent regulated
housing
that we have seen all over NYC. This is
particularly true in gentrified neighborhoods such as in our service
area-
rent stabilized buildings are purchased and older tenants face
tremendous
pressure to move out so that these highly sought after apartments can
be
renovated. The rents are then raised above $2,000/month and therefore
removed from rent regulation.
The panelists comments were seconded by
 Councilmember Tish
James, who pledged her support to affordable housing in
Brooklyn, and Assemblymember Hakeem Jeffries, who continues to advocate
for
changes to the rent laws in the district and in
Albany.
Community members presented challenging questions, which were answered
by the panelists. The morning closed with a call to action
for
all attendees.
email us with your feedback on our
quarterly breakfast or to be placed on our mailing list for future
events.
More photos are available, here and here |
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NYC Rallies to Preserve Supportive Housing for
People Living with HIV/AIDS
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 Hundreds of social
workers along with staff and tenants of
supportive housing organizations, gathered on the steps of City Hall on
February 12, 2009. The activists urged City Council to maintain funds
in the Mayor's
FY10 budget for supportive housing and help keep these tenants in their
homes.
Gibb
Mansion is home to over 50
individuals that rely on the support of our case management, nutrition
and
health programs. The provision of these onsite services would be
severely
affected with these cuts, basically taking the "support" out of
supportive
housing.
After the rally PACC's social workers asked Gibb Mansion
Residents the following question: "Mayor Bloomberg is proposing to cut
a
significant amount of money to HIV services, eliminating case
management services
and food programs and making the HASA worker responsible for all of
your needs.
How would this affect you?"
 Ricardo A. said,
"...I can get better services from PACC. The case management is more
accessible as they
are on the premises. Living in a building with security makes me more
able to
deal with my condition. People don't get enough money allotted on their
food
stamps to survive so the meals are a great help and I would go so far
as to say
there is a medical need for it to be provided."
Email Mayor Bloomberg and tell him not to cut funding to
supportive housing!
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
More photos can be viewed on our Facebook
page.
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