The United Front Against Displacement

The United Front Against Displacement a tenant organization fighting against gentrification. 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:

San Francisco 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

• Photos and Videos: Rally to Save Manhattanville! Saturday October 22 at 1pmOctober 27, 2022
  On Saturday October 22 we held a rally to save the #Manhattanville projects in West Harlem, in the parking lot that was recently sold by #NYCHA to a developer for a 26-story luxury condo tower to be built in the middle of the project. This is part of the #PACT privatization scam. NYCHA took thisContinue reading “Photos and Videos: Rally to Save Manhattanville! Saturday October 22 at 1pm”
• UFAD protests pro-privatization “Resident Empowerment Conference” by Boston Housing Authority, Mayor Michelle Wu, and nonprofits on October 15thOctober 22, 2022
  BREAKING: On Saturday the @BHA_Boston, @MayorWu and various nonprofits held a “resident empowerment conference” to prepare public housing tenants for privatization. We showed up to protest their hypocrisy. 1/ Incredibly, this event was being held RIGHT NEXT to the building they’ve spent the last week hastily pushing tenants out of. Groups like @CityLife_Clvu and @BostonLegalAidContinue reading “UFAD protests pro-privatization “Resident Empowerment Conference” by Boston Housing Authority, Mayor Michelle Wu, and nonprofits on October 15th”
• TALK IS CHEAP! New York Politicians Lie to NYCHA Tenants When Asked About the Privatization of NYCHA (Video)October 13, 2022
  Featuring: Jumaane Williams, Cordell Cleare, Mark Levine, Letitia James, and Robert Jackson On August 16th, 2022, NYCHA tenants from UFAD sent petitions opposing the privatization of NYCHA to local and state politicians and NYCHA officials. The petition was signed by 218 tenants of Manhattanville Houses in West Harlem, 74 tenants of Jackie Robinson Houses inContinue reading “TALK IS CHEAP! New York Politicians Lie to NYCHA Tenants When Asked About the Privatization of NYCHA (Video)”
• BHA Forcing Elderly/Disabled Residents Out of their Units on 1-Weeks’ NoticeOctober 10, 2022
  This past Friday October 7th, the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) and Judy Cohn Housing and Relocation Consultants notified most of the remaining residents of 24/34 Heath St. (which are elderly/disabled buildings) at the Mildred Hailey Public Housing development that they must leave their apartments by this Friday, October 14th. This is to prepare for theContinue reading “BHA Forcing Elderly/Disabled Residents Out of their Units on 1-Weeks’ Notice”
• 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 NYCHA: PetitionAugust 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: Petition”
• 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”

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CONTACT THE UFAD:
Social media: @theufad