Everyone has the right to a safe, affordable, and healthy home.

We build power to win building repairs and prevent displacement so that Bronxites can live in dignity. At the same time, we advance visionary legislation to guarantee a home for everyone in this country and enable residents to collectively own their buildings to keep them rooted in the neighborhoods they helped create.

Looking Back, Fighting Forward

In 1974, the Bronx helped birth a movement that built community-controlled housing and passed national laws to require banks to invest in poor and working class communities of color. The legacy of redlining and disinvestment left a lasting mark on our neighborhoods and housing system. Many Bronx residents still spend over half of their income on rent and face some of the highest rates of eviction and building violations in the city. **But the Bronx is fighting forward to own and govern our homes and stabilize our communities for the long run.**

We develop the leadership of Bronx tenants to take control of their buildings and create truly affordable, sustainable communities through a variety of strategies:

Bronx tenants are creating pathways to collectively own and govern their buildings to ensure the long-term affordability and wellbeing of their homes.

Bronx tenants pursue legal action and city programs to take ownership of their building.

Throughout a decade-long struggle, tenants of 2201-2205 Davidson Ave have pursued the Third-Party Transfer (TPT) Program to support them to assume collective governance of their building from their negligent landlord, who owes nearly $25 million in property taxes. After announcing legal action in March 2024, they learned the city admitted their building into the TPT Program—a big step in their effort to take ownership of the building.

Bronx tenants demand a legal pathway to collectively own their buildings.

Tenants of 124 East 176th St have joined with state legislators to pass the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) to create the first right of refusal for New York tenants to buy their buildings when a landlord sells. After suffering from decades of neglect from property owner David Kleiner, these tenants want him to sell the building to them or another responsible owner in order to preserve the building and ensure their safety.

NWBCCC helps tenants stabilize and establish co-governance of their building.

When 785 East Tremont Avenue went through foreclosure due to unpaid property taxes, NWBCCC helped tenants void the sale of this property at auction, averting a potential major displacement event. They also helped residents to regain democratic control of their building governance by adopting new by-laws and electing a tenant-controlled board, and engaged the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development to resolve outstanding debt and permanently stabilize the property.

Bronx tenants pursue legal action and city programs to take ownership of their building.

Explore our policy platforms for housing as a human right!

Our Homes, Our Power

In 2019, our statewide Housing Justice for All Coalition won landmark legislation to dramatically strengthen New York State’s rent laws and establish the most robust tenant protections in a generation. Today our coalition is fighting for transformative legislation like the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, which would give tenants the first right of refusal to purchase their building when their landlord sells. Additionally, we fight for expanded rent stabilization; a Housing Access Voucher Program; new, democratically-controlled social housing; and Good Cause Eviction legislation to protect tenants from unjust evictions and rent hikes.

Community Land Act

The Community Land Act is a legislative package of bills that would support the growth and implementation of CLTs across NYC. The bills include: Public Land for Public Good, which would require the city to prioritize CLTs and other nonprofit developers when disposing of publicly-owned land; the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, which would grant CLTs and other nonprofits a right of first offer when landlords sell their buildings; a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act resolution calling on the state legislature to offer that right directly to tenants themselves; and a set of bills to abolish and replace the extractive and discriminator Tax Lien Sale.

Ending Predatory Equity

Our Bronx is the Bronx Boro lead for the Stabilizing New York City Coalition, a citywide coalition to combat tenant harassment and preserve real affordable housing. Our coalition combines legal, advocacy and organizing resources into a citywide network to help tenants take their predatory equity landlords to court and prevent displacement. Previously, we won a Certificate of No Harassment to force owners of distressed buildings to prove they have not harassed tenants before receiving a permit from the Department of Buildings. We push for policies to increase accountability for owners and lenders engaged in predatory equity practices.

explore research on our models to ensure Stable, affordable, and healthy homes for all:

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