CU4ML has been fighting against privatization and for the democratic and transparent operation of Mitchell-Lama co-ops for more than a dozen years. Our advocacy takes many forms, from letter writing campaigns and petitions, to lobbying for regulatory and legislative changes, to advising individual developments in how to strengthen their local organizing efforts, to preparing educational materials for both cooperators and for elected representatives, to researching and developing policies that will expand the Mitchell-Lama program, and to promote Mitchell-Lama as a model of not-for-profit housing that can play an important role in solving the housing crises in our cities and states.
CU4ML is also part of Mitchell-Lama United (MLU), a coalition of three ML groups including besides CU4ML, the Mitchell-Lama Residents Coalition (MLRC), and The Brooklyn Mitchell-Lama Task Force (BMLTF). Together we successfully passed the Mitchell-Lama Reform Bill of 2021, and it was signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul. This new law helps protect tens of thousands of affordable cooperative apartments from privatization and enacts governance and voting provisions to increase transparency in Board operations and reduce corruption in voting.
There are many more reforms needed to ensure that privatization and semi-privatization are finally off the table, and to ensure that HPD and HCR, the supervisory agencies, properly carry out their work of preserving and protecting the ML Program and all its developments, and are responsive to cooperator concerns.
If you believe in cooperative, locally controlled, not-for-profit housing, then join with us to carry on this mission. Email us at info@cu4ml.org to inquire about how you can participate.