We Won't Move: Tenants Organize in New York City

<p>New York City is a city of tenants; close to seventy percent of the city’s residents occupy over two million apartments. Rent regulation, including rent control and rent stabilization, covers over a million of these units. That number is dropping daily, due to the gradual weakening of the rent regulation system; predatory equity, which favors the acquisition of capital over the housing rights of long-term residents; and the daily actions of abusive landlords who harass and evict tenants. However, for the past century, New Yorkers have continuously organized to claim the right to live in a city that is integrated and affordable.</p> <p>This rich history of tenant struggle includes neighborhood resistance to urban renewal in the South Bronx, integration struggles at Stuyvesant Town and in Brooklyn, rent strikes in Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant, the coordinated takeover of vacant housing during Operation Move-In, and repeated campaigns to renew and strengthen the rent laws.</p> <p>This exhibition highlights the diverse array of tactics employed by tenant organizers, and situates the fight for affordable housing within racial and economic justice struggles.</p>