Our Mission
We are an all-volunteer and tenant-led anti-gentrification group working together to grow the power of working-class tenants and unhoused people in Ridgewood, Maspeth, Glendale, and Middle Village. Demanding safe and stable housing for all, we organize together to fight displacement.
Since our founding in 2014 we have engaged in projects that address the impacts of gentrification, which we define as the displacement of poor and working-class people, often of color, and their replacement by middle- and upper-class people, often white, in order to generate profits for landlords and developers.
Principles of Unity
1
We believe that the most effective way to make change is through direct action and collective organizing.
2
We believe that immigrants, people of color, poor and working-class people as well as our homeless neighbors are most impacted by gentrification, and therefore they must be centered in organizing efforts. No one should fight alone!
3
We believe that racial justice, immigration, and housing are all connected, and we work for a neighborhood free from police violence, discrimination, and white supremacy. We are inspired in this work by struggles for disability justice and queer liberation.
4
We believe housing is a human right. We believe in community control over housing and non-speculative housing models, which also means that we strive toward a neighborhood where solidarity and cooperative economies are uplifted and where corporations don’t set the terms for our local economy.
5
We believe in people power and in politicians being held accountable when they don’t advocate for the best interests of all of our neighbors–like when they sell off our neighborhood to developers with false promises of affordable housing.
6
We believe that all our struggles are connected. By forming strategic alliances, we can move closer to creating a neighborhood where all our homeless neighbors have a safe roof over their head and where nobody lives in fear of losing their home. A strong member base and true solidarity allows us to fight to stay in our homes!