“By noon, loud chants filled the vaulted lobby outside Cuomo’s executive suite as roughly 100 tenants with the Upstate-Downstate Housing Alliance pressed their government for new protections.
“Whose housing crisis?” the crowd chanted. “Cuomo’s housing crisis!”
“Fight, fight, fight! Housing is a human right!” the demonstrators yelled, as organizers with groups like Make the Road New York, VOCAL New York, the Kingston Tenants Union, the Rochester Tenants Union, and the Akron Tenants Association gave impassioned speeches. After delivering a pro-renter petition with more than 3,000 signatures to Cuomo’s office, the tenants fanned out across the Capitol to call on key political leaders to sign on to the full slate of Housing Justice for All legislation.
Every Tuesday since then, the tenants have returned to Albany to lobby the legislature. And they have been making noise at other venues as well, trying to make themselves ubiquitous, whether by marching in the streets or persuading city councils across the state to pass resolutions in support of new rent regulations.”