With the aim of protecting and empowering immigrant communities in the face of discrimination in the housing market, senior officials in New York City organized a round table with ethnic means to disseminate crucial information on the rights of tenants and available legal protections, regardless of their immigration status.
The event, held on Tuesday, May 20, was headed by the Vice Mayor of Housing, Economic Development and Labor Force, Adolfo Carrión Jr., in collaboration with the Department of Preservation and Development of Housing (HPD), the Office of the Mayor for Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), the Public Participation Unit (PEU) and the Human Rights Commission of New York (CCHR).
During the round table, representatives of the different agencies presented informative tools and answered questions from journalists representing the media aimed at the various immigrant communities in the city. The issues addressed included how to identify discrimination in access to housing, what to do before harassment by homemade, how to report unsafe conditions and what are the public resources available for those who face housing related challenges.
“As someone who has represented immigrant communities at different levels of government, I know firsthand the challenges they face to find safe and affordable homes,” said Carrión Jr. “This round table reinforces our inter -institutional commitment to ensure that all New Yorkers, regardless of where they come from, have access to clear information to protect their rights.
The officials also announced the launch of new multilingual dissemination materials that include brochures, guides, instructional videos and other visual resources in languages such as Arabic, Bengali, Simplified Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Urdu. These resources are available online and are distributed in areas with high concentration of immigrant communities.
Ahmed Tigani, an interim commissioner of the HPD, said the tenants can communicate with the city to denounce maintenance or harassment problems, even if they have no legal status. “Our compliance unit works to hold the owners who violate housing regulations.
The Immigrant Affairs Office, under the direction of Commissioner Manuel Castro, emphasized that this initiative is part of a broader strategy to ensure that public services reach everyone. “Since the inclusion of tenants’ rights in our campaigns of ‘know their rights’ until the implementation of linguistic assistance, we remain a fundamental basis for our new New York.”
For his part, Adrienne Lever, Executive Director of Peu, stressed that her unit works daily with vulnerable communities to guarantee the stability of housing. “We have a direct aid line, multilingual personnel and a firm commitment to bring information directly to the streets, where people need it.”
“The New York Human Rights Law is one of the most complete in the country,” said Kajori Chaudhuri, a sub -commissioner of CCHR. “We ensure that no one is excluded or mistreated by being who it is.”
The city also offers programs such as homefirst for initial payments, SCRIE/DRIE for older and disabilities, and the NYC Housing Connect housing housing program.
During the summer, the PEU will make action days in the five counties, distributing the new informative materials and connecting directly with tenants in train stations, public squares and community markets.
For more information, residents can call 311 or visit the HPD website to access guides such as The ABCs of Housing, verify history history and explore affordable housing options.
