Nellie Hester Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council

“We need to look at what is happening to African American communities around the country...Now that the value of many of these inner-city neighborhoods is rising, it has brought forth issues around whether poor, and working class people – particularly people of color -- can afford to live there. I have been dismayed that many of our black leaders have not taken this issue to a national platform…”

Harlem Tenants Council (HTC) was created to "provide relief for the poor and to combat community deterioration as a result of the accelerated pace of gentrification in Harlem." HTC's goal is to build a broad-based bottom up tenants' movement that can influence policies and programs that impact on low-income residents and neighborhood small businesses. The group organizes educational forums, provides free legal counseling, builds ties with Harlem churches and businesses and organizes demonstrations to draw attention to the housing crisis. HTC's members are tenants living in public housing, city and privately owned properties and small business owners.

Recognizing that the lack of affordable housing affects all low income New Yorkers, HTC works in coalition with progressive groups throughout the city to create a comprehensive urban housing agenda, build a unified front to demand socially responsible housing practices and hold elected officials accountable for their policies. Together, they have protested compulsory work requirements for tenants living in public housing and demanded legal representation for all tenants in housing court. In 2000, HTC challenged the plan to transfer city owned buildings to third parties and won transfer of buildings now slated for low-income tenants' equity cooperatives.

To contact Harlem Tenants Council, call 212-316-2240.