Housing Notebook

• Topics of general interest to tenants, especially the work of New York Communities for Change, as well as upcoming events of interest to tenants. -

Scott Sommer spoke with Cynthia Norris, from New York Communities for Change, about their campaigns around housing in NYC and upcoming events. With call-ins.

Housing Notebook is a production of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, New York's oldest citywide tenants union.

• Cynthia Norris, New York Communities for Change -

• Met Council hotline: 212-979-0611, M & W 1:30-8 PM, F 1:30-5 PM; metcouncilonhousing.org, thetenant.org; info@metcouncilonhousing.org; Facebook & Instagram: search for Met Council on Housing; email: housingnotebook@wbai.org – no housing problems please! X: @met_council, @wbai.org, @scottmsommer (also on threads & bluesky); wbai.org – live stream, find archive, join radio station there or go to buddy.wbai.org to become a WBAI buddy or make a one-time donation – be sure to scroll down to choose Housing Notebook as the show you want to support! Or call 833-922-4692 - leave a message with your phone number if no one picks up, and they'll call you back. Or mail a check made out to WBAI-Pacifica to WBAI Radio, 388 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn NY 11217. 

• Walk-in clinics: April 21 at Trinity Commons, 76 Trinity Place, Manhattan - arrive by 6:30pm; April 28 at CUNY in the Heights, 5030 Broadway, Manhattan - arrive by 6pm. For more information, click here. For all other Met Council events, including trainings for hotline volunteers, workshops, court outreach, and meetings about basic rights, check the calendar here.

• To check the status of your buildihg, go to justfix.org.

• Mayor's Town Hall on Housing - Wednesday, April 22, at 6 PM at the Silverman School of Social Work - for more information and to register, click here.

• The National Conference on Rent Control & Tenant Rights: Saturday, April 25, from 10 am to 5 pm, at Bethel Gospel Assembly, 2-26 East 120th Street. Free; lunch will be provided. For more information and to register, click here.  

• New York Communities for Change - visit them at 470 Vanderbilt Ave, 9th Floor, or call (347) 410-6919.

• Heat and hot water: from 6am to 10pm, when the outside temperature is below 55 degrees the inside temperature must be 68 degrees; from 10pm to 6am, the inside temperature must be at least 62 degrees. Hot water must be 120 degrees at the tap at all times. For more information, click here.

• Not mentioned on air, but useful: New rent guidelines: for leases starting 10/1/25 in New York City: for apartments and lofts, 3 percent for a 1-year lease, 4 1/2 percent for a 2-year lease; class A & B hotels, lodging houses, rooming houses, & SROs: 0 percent - find more detailed info here. Kingston: 0 and 0; Westchester 2% for 1 year, 3% for 2 years; Rockland County 5% for 1 year, 6% for 2 years; Nassau 2% for one year, 3% for 2 years. For more information about developments in Kingston and Poughkeepsie, contact For the Many: email info@forthemany.org or call 845-481-0703.