Because the subject of actually affordable housing is so complex, so intertwined with other intractable issues such as falling incomes of lower and middle class New Yorker, sub-prime mortgages, predatory lenders and exploding real estate prices, writing (and reading) about this issue is a real pain. But the time has come. At the Drum Major Institute meeting, April 2, there was some talk about how to build more affordable housing and we need more But..The biggest and most frightening question for most New Yorkers: How can we keep the affordable housing we have now? Many New Yorkers pay below market rents because of a mixture of programs: Rent Control, Rent Stabilization, Mitchell-Lama, Section 8, Mutual Housing Associations. Since residential property owners can get steeply higher rents if they can get their units decontrolled, schemes by the dozen have evolved to allow landlords to shake themselves loose of low-paying renters. Phony demolition permits, curtailing services, terrorizing tenants. In one case, an appellate court overturned a lower court and OK’d mass evictions of a 15-unit building so the landlord-couple live there alone – 47 East 3rd Street. BUT, in that case, tenants and their neighbors are fighting back. On Saturday April 14, 2007, housing activists, tenants and concerned citizens will rally to turn back the landlords’ feigned fantasy of a McMansion on East 3rd Street. Tenants in all housing see that attack as an attack on them and their housing. They propose legislation to close the odd loophole in housing law invented by the appellate court. The Rally will start with marches from all over the lower east side (One starts at Ninth Street and Avenue B). We’ll end up at East 3rd Street between 1th and 2nd Avenues At 1 PM. Local electeds (Council Member Rosie Mendez, Assembly Members Deborah Glick & Brian Kavanaugh, State Senator Tom Duane and Martin Conner and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer) will join host community groups led by The Cooper Square Committee, GOLES, University Settlement, CODA and specialized tenant advocates. I hope for few speeches, much music, dancing in the streets and great food. Meet me there. Call GOLES at 212-533-2541 or Cooper Square Committee 212-226-8210 for more information. Check out also the tenants’ website . There's much more