Friday, May 29, 2015
New York Foundation Places Its Bets on Real Change
Many people take the term “rent-stabilized apartment” at face value, not realizing that even stabilized rents can increase on a year basis, albeit not without community input and a vote. Unfortunately, this process isn’t well-publicized, and many tenants living in such apartments, mostly members of low-income communities, don’t know their rights or have the resources to participate.
Enter Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA), a New York City-based organization that helps to protect and maintain affordable housing by tapping into the grassroots. Tenant leaders and organizers reach out to tenants, help organize tenant associations, hold monthly legal clinics and engage in city and statewide campaigns to make gains in a city that’s notorious for rents that are too high.
CASA could not do this important work without the support of one its key funders, the New York Foundation, a 2015 NCRP Impact Awardee for Small/Midsize Private Foundation. This innovative grantmaker has been responding to the critical needs of New Yorkers since its creation in 1909. Believing that the resilience and vitality of New York City’s neighborhoods is its greatest resource, the foundation supports organizations – like CASA – that inspire residents to become more informed, active participants in the life of the city....