![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/35cd1a73-436d-40cf-ae61-70f1cdf4b04e-1024x754.jpg\")
Manhattan Borough President Hoylman-Sigal at a press conference earlier this year. (Facebook\/bradhoylman)<\/p>\nManhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal is hiring a full time organizer to create a borough-wide tenant union, continuing a trend of city government supporting tenant groups.<\/p>\n
Manhattan Borough President Hoylman-Sigal at a press conference earlier this year. (Facebook\/bradhoylman)<\/p>\n
Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Manhattan\u2019s borough president, is hiring a longtime tenant organizer, Alejandro Coriat, to create a Manhattan-wide tenants union.<\/p>\n
The new role, which was a campaign promise for the borough president, comes as the city has seen a surge in tenant power. Mayor Zohran Mamdani aligned himself with tenant groups during the campaign and stood with unionized tenants in Brooklyn on his first day in office<\/a>.<\/p>\n Politicians are focusing on tenants as the cost of living in New York City remains a top political issue.<\/p>\n \u201cTenants are under more pressure than ever, and there\u2019s also at the same time a feeling that tenants are finally in the driver\u2019s seat under the new city administration,\u201d said Hoylman-Sigal.<\/p>\n Coriat, who has been organizing tenants in Manhattan for almost a decade, will work with existing unions and nonprofits to help educate tenants about their rights, using some of the resources of the borough president\u2019s office.<\/p>\n \u201cA Manhattan Tenant Union is going to be a project that is pretty daunting, and the way to go about it is\u2026 to nurture tenant unions, whether at the neighborhood level or at the level of particular portfolios, and through the interconnections of all those different bodies try to foster the emergence of something that goes beyond,\u201d said Coriat.<\/p>\n Manhattan has the highest rents in the city, and rising. But it also has over 200,000<\/a> of the city\u2019s 1 million rent-stabilized rental units and large concentrations of affordable housing. Buildings in upper Manhattan, Harlem, Washington Heights, and Inwood consistently have high numbers of housing code violations<\/a>, year after year.<\/p>\n Hoylman-Sigal and Coriat hope that the position will improve coordination between tenant groups and help renters fight for repairs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about enforcement of our city laws and our administrative code, whether it\u2019s the right to hot water and heat and soon, cooling<\/a>, to be protected from tenant harassment, to be safeguarded from unconscionable rent increases or to be evicted willy-nilly from your from your apartment,\u201d said Hoylman-Sigal.<\/p>\n Since January, the newly-reactivated Mayor\u2019s Office to Protect Tenants has intervened on behalf of tenants in disputes<\/a> with their landlords and unapologetically encouraged tenants to get organized.<\/p>\n Landlords have been critical of the city\u2019s support for tenant organizing, which they say frames landlords as villains.<\/p>\n Some took issue with Mamdani\u2019s \u201crental ripoff\u201d hearings, with posters that framed it as a prize fight<\/a> between tenants and landlords, as well as his rent freeze promise, which they argue fails to consider rising costs of operating housing in the city.<\/p>\n \u201cTo constantly attack, vilify, and beat up on [private property owners], I don\u2019t think is effective, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s appropriate for city funds to be used to create an office that\u2019s going to undermine my ability to run my property,\u201d said Ann Korchak, president of the Small Property Owners Association of New York.<\/p>\n Both Hoylman-Sigal and Coriat support the mayor\u2019s promised rent freeze for the city\u2019s 2 million rent stabilized tenants, which passed a major milestone last month. The Rent Guidelines Board will hold a final vote on allowable rent increases on June 25.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely an exciting political moment. It\u2019s really humbling,\u201d said Coriat.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what else happened in housing this week\u2014<\/p>\n ICYMI, from City Limits: <\/p>\n In 2022, developers behind two Atlantic Avenue projects committed to making a \u201crecord-setting\u201d 35 percent of the apartments affordable. But after interest rates shot up and the owner cited cost pressures, nonprofit partners recruited by Councilmember Hudson agreed to renegotiate, rather than pursue enforcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n The city instructed marshals to suspend all scheduled evictions Thursday in light of the Knicks parade<\/a>. The civil court also halted any defaults\u2014automatic judgements in favor of the landlord when a tenant does not appear in court, citing possible transit disruptions because of crowds. <\/p>\n Some City Council members are considering a \u201cno\u201d vote on any budget deal<\/a> that doesn\u2019t include a significant expansion of the city\u2019s housing voucher program, CityFHEPS, revealing a rift with Council Speaker Julie Menin. The expansion has not appeared in either the mayor or the speaker\u2019s budget plans.<\/p>\n ICYMI, from other local newsrooms: <\/p>\n How an alleged real estate scammer stayed in business despite years of complaints, via Gothamist<\/a>. <\/p>\n Former NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, who is now running Congress in a competitive election against incumbent Dan Goldmand, is taking heat for failing audit a migrant shelter contractor accused of corruption, according to The City Reporter<\/a>. <\/p>\n City & State spoke to \u00a0New York Building Congress President and CEO Carlo Scissura about the city\u2019s building boom<\/a>. <\/p>\n To reach the reporter behind this story, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. To reach the editor, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n Want to republish this story? Find City Limits\u2019 reprint policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \tWe want to hear from you!<\/p>\n Take a short anonymous survey to help us deliver content to empower our community.<\/p>\n