State Sen. Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie (D-Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Gowanus, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, South Slope, and Sunset Park) yesterday connected the dots between tenants and city agencies and nonprofits who can help them resolve their housing issues while building awareness of the effort to reform the rent laws in New York State.
The event was a housing forum, which drew about a hundred people and was held at the St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf, 260 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights.
“We wanted to give the community an opportunity to ask questions not just about the rent regulation fight, which I care very deeply about, but about any other issues people felt need to be addressed,” said Myrie. “We were proud to bring many of the agencies and groups who work on housing issues assembled in the same place. As a rent-stabilized tenant, I learned a lot from these groups myself.”
The panel Myrie assembled included Housing Justice For All, Community Service Society, NYCHA, NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Department of Buildings, and Department of Finance, the State Attorney General’s office, Brooklyn Legal Services, and NHS Brooklyn.
Additionally, there were resource tables set up by NYC’s Public Engagement Tenant Support Unit, NYS Division of Human Rights, CAMBA, IMPACCT Brooklyn, and Empire State Indivisible.
The Housing Forum was the latest in a series of events the Senator has organized on housing issues in Brooklyn. In the last couple of months, he has held several “Know Your Rights” trainings for tenants and partnered with the office of Assemblymember Diana Richardson (D-Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Garden, Flatbush) on a housing series.
Next week, the Senator is partnering with Senate Housing Chair Brian Kavanagh (D-Northern Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan) on a Senate hearing on rent reform,
The event is slated for 1 p.m., Thursday, May 16 at Medgar Evers College, 1650 Bedford Avenue in Crown Heights. People who would like to testify at the hearing should reach out to the Senator’s office at 718-284-4700.
