The United Front Against Displacement

The United Front Against Displacement is an anti-gentrification organization.

Read our Points of Unity.

Urban Core is our national publication, featuring regular contributions from cities across the country.

The UFAD has chapters in the Bay Area, Boston, and New York City. To get involved with the UFAD or learn more, contact us on social media @theufad or below:

BAY AREA: Email: wewontgo@riseup.net

BOSTON: Call/text: 617-858-6604 Email: wewontgoboston@riseup.net

NEW YORK CITY: Call/text: 646-450-3880 Email: nogonyc@riseup.net

See our blog for ongoing updates.

See recent media coverage here.

This is a letter decrying one of the crimes of the 21st century; the nationwide project by Congress, HUD, big banks, and developers to privatize public housing. For decades Congress has cut funding to public housing developments across the country. This is part of a long history of neglect of public housing, which has led to deteriorating and dangerous conditions for tenants. Mold, asbestos, lead paint, water damage, broken windows, rodent infestations, lack of heat, and other unlivable conditions are all a daily reality for tenants in public housing projects across the country. In addition to this lack of respect or concern for peoples’ health, tenants are regularly subjected to rude, derogatory, and discriminatory treatment for raising these concerns to managers and local housing authorities.

Now after all these years of letting the projects rot and forcing people to live in deplorable conditions, HUD is giving away all the projects to wealthy developers and the big banks. These predatory interests aim to make billions off of this transfer of wealth and land, all at the expense of the millions of people currently living in public housing. Instead of using funding for much needed repairs of public housing, HUD’s budget is now being used to subsidize these privatization projects, which almost always include the construction of new luxury units and the displacement of the vast majority of current project residents.

Esta es una carta denunciando uno de los grandes crímenes del siglo XXI; el proyecto nacional del Congreso, HUD, los grandes bancos y las inmobiliarias para privatizar la vivienda pública. Durante décadas, el Congreso ha recortado los fondos para desarrollos de viviendas públicas en todo el país. Esto es parte de una larga historia de abandono de la vivienda pública, que ha provocado su deterioro y condiciones peligrosas para los inquilinos. El moho, el asbesto, la pintura con plomo, los daños causados ​​por goteras de agua, las ventanas rotas, las plagas de roedores, la falta de calefacción y otras condiciones no habitables son una realidad diaria para muchos inquilinos de los proyectos de vivienda pública en todo el país. Además de esta falta de respeto y de preocupación por la salud de las personas, los inquilinos son sometidos regularmente a un trato grosero, despectivo y discriminatorio por plantear estas preocupaciones a los administradores y las autoridades locales de vivienda.

Ahora, después de todos estos años de dejar que los proyectos se pudran y de obligar a la gente a vivir en condiciones deplorables, HUD está regalando todos los proyectos a desarrolladores adinerados y a los grandes bancos. Estos intereses depredadores apuntan a ganar miles de millones con esta transferencia de riqueza y tierra, todo a expensas de los millones de personas que actualmente viven en viviendas públicas. En lugar de utilizar fondos para reparaciones muy necesarias de viviendas públicas, el presupuesto de HUD se está utilizando ahora para subsidiar estos proyectos de privatización, que casi siempre incluyen la construcción de nuevas unidades de lujo y el desplazamiento de la gran mayoría de los residentes actuales del proyecto.

Blog Feed

• NYCHA Tenants and Columbia Students Protest Columbia’s Gentrification of HarlemSeptember 23, 2022
  On September 22, NYCHA tenants from United Front Against Displacement and Columbia students came together to protest Columbia University’s gentrification of Harlem. You can read and sign onto the demands here. Organized by UFAD, Student Worker Solidarity, and Housing Equity Project. Yesterday, NYCHA tenants of UFAD and Columbia students joined together to protest @Columbia’s predatoryContinue reading “NYCHA Tenants and Columbia Students Protest Columbia’s Gentrification of Harlem”
• The Anna Mae Cole Center Must be PreservedSeptember 21, 2022
  In the coming months, the City of Boston and the Boston Housing Authority (BHA), along with a group of developers, are planning to hasten the gentrification of Jamaica Plain.  They plan to do this by demolishing hundreds of public housing units and replacing them with hundreds of privately-run and expensive units at the Mildred C.Continue reading “The Anna Mae Cole Center Must be Preserved”
• NO to the Demolition of the Anna Mae Cole Center in Boston!August 25, 2022
  This September, the City of Boston and the Boston Housing Authority (BHA), along with a group of developers (Urban Edge, JPNDC, and TCB), are planning to demolish the Anna Mae Cole Center at the Mildred C. Hailey/Bromley-Heath public housing development in Jamaica Plain. The Cole Center is not just an ordinary community center. In additionContinue reading “NO to the Demolition of the Anna Mae Cole Center in Boston!”
• Tenants of Manhattanville and Jackie Robinson Houses Oppose Privatization of NYCHAAugust 16, 2022
  08/16/2022 Today, petitions opposing the privatization of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) public housing, signed by 218 tenants of Manhattanville Houses in West Harlem, 74 tenants of Jackie Robinson Houses in East Harlem, and 81 community members, were delivered to elected politicians and city leaders. This follows mobilizations of NYCHA tenants across the cityContinue reading “Tenants of Manhattanville and Jackie Robinson Houses Oppose Privatization of NYCHA“
• Protesting Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s Privatization of Public HousingJuly 4, 2022
  JUNE 18: At a cushy photo op this week in Roxbury, @MayorWu and other city officials used cops to intimidate and silence multiple groups of protesters. This is part of a growing trend by the city of #Boston to crush any progressive dissent to government policy. While we were at the event to protest theContinue reading “Protesting Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s Privatization of Public Housing”
• Manhattanville and Jackie Robinson tenants in Harlem confront NYCHA about PACT privatization scamJuly 4, 2022
  Tenants at the Manhattanville projects in #Harlem confronted @NYCHA over their RAD/PACT privatization program. Around 70 tenants attended the meeting and almost all were outraged at this scam to hand the projects to the big banks and private corporations 1/n In this video Loretta asks @NYCHA about the troubled history of #PACT and the horrorsContinue reading “Manhattanville and Jackie Robinson tenants in Harlem confront NYCHA about PACT privatization scam”
• Report on the Struggle at City TowersJune 21, 2022
  The attached report is the fruit of four months of collaboration between a newly-formed Tenant Association at City Towers housing development in West Oakland and organizers with the UFAD. In it, we detail: The past and present conditions at City Towers Organizing efforts since February of this year and the response from property management andContinue reading “Report on the Struggle at City Towers”
• What is PACT like for tenants? NYCHA tenants speak out about why privatization is a scamMay 17, 2022
  en español abajo Ocean Bay – QueensPrivatized by PACT in 2016 Ocean Bay Bayside in Queens was the first NYCHA development that was privatized under PACT in 2016. From 2017-2019, the private company evicted tenants at three times the average NYCHA rate. 6 years after the “repairs” done by the company, the front of theContinue reading “What is PACT like for tenants? NYCHA tenants speak out about why privatization is a scam”
• Fire at City Towers: Random Tragedy or Par for the Course? Part 5: The Struggle that Lies AheadMay 13, 2022
  Shortly after the petition was delivered to VPM Management, KDF Communities, the Oakland Housing Authority, Mayor Libby Schaaf, City Councilmember Carroll Fife, and Oakland City Attorney Barbara J. Parker, the latter office replied: Thank you for your email and attached petition. The City Attorney takes violation of tenants’ rights and safety very seriously. Multiple CityContinue reading “Fire at City Towers: Random Tragedy or Par for the Course? Part 5: The Struggle that Lies Ahead”
• Fire at City Towers: Random Tragedy or Par for the Course? Part 4: Raising Complaints with One VoiceMay 4, 2022
  In the aftermath of the February fire, a petition was written up based on contributions from several residents throughout door-to-door conversations. In the space of a month, over 90 signatures have been gathered from residents in the building. Residents delivered this petition to the management office at City Towers on April 1st. A small groupContinue reading “Fire at City Towers: Random Tragedy or Par for the Course? Part 4: Raising Complaints with One Voice”

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