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Housing Rights Meeting a Success

On Aug. 7, the Housing Committee of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition held a “Know Your Rights” training session at Our Savior Church, 2317 Washington Ave.  The training focused on educating community residents, including immigrants, of their rights as tenants.

Committee members gave presentations about the Rent Guidelines Board, the Vacancy Decontrol law, Major Capital Improvements, the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and immigration and housing rights. The event was very successful, with about 80 people attending. Tenants had many questions on housing issues, including apartment repairs, painting, withholding rent and landlord harassment.

The Housing Committee accomplished its goal of educating tenants on their rights, and empowering them to fight for these rights. In the future, the committee plans to do more training sessions in neighborhood institutions.

The committee thanks Father David Guzman of Our Savior Church and his parishioners for their support. The committee would also like to thank Sistas and Brothers United for their help with community outreach. Kudos to the Housing Committee and the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC) staff for a job well done!

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact NWBCCC Housing Organizer Erik Beach at (718) 584-0515 ext. 414.

Brenda Irizarry

The writer is a Norwood resident and member of the NWBCCC’s Housing Committee.

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.

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