ABOUT THE METROPOLITAN COUNCIL ON HOUSING

Who we are:

Met Council, founded in 1959, is a membership organization dedicated to preserving and expanding New York City’s supply of decent, affordable housing. Most New Yorkers live in rented apartments—almost all low, moderate, and middle-income people in New York rent their homes—and over 1 million of those apartments are covered by rent regulations. Met Council focuses on preserving rental housing and strengthening tenants’ rights. Rent-regulated tenants have more long-term stability, better services, and lower rents than those who rent on the open market.

We are guided by our Our Board of Directors, who are directly elected by our membership. Click here to see a list of Board Members.

Why we exist:

The real-estate industry in New York City is extraordinarily powerful and has attacked affordable housing programs with relentless persistence. Today, New York faces the loss of tens of thousands of units from the steady erosion of the federal Section 8 program, the state Mitchell-Lama program, and state rent regulations. To counter the real-estate industry’s attack on affordable housing and tenant protections, Met Council works primarily on preserving and strengthening rent regulations in order to insure a permanent supply of affordable rental housing.

What we do:

Solving New York City’s housing crisis means expanding the supply of permanently affordable rental housing and strengthening tenants’ rights to stay in that housing. We do our work through grassroots organizing, lobbying, direct action, and public education. Met Council continues to do the work we started to do 45 years ago: organizing tenant associations to help tenants get better services and repairs; organizing public direct actions in support of tenants’ rights and affordable housing programs; and educating tenants through our monthly newspaper, weekly call-in radio show, forums, and our volunteer-staffed tenant hotline.

Come join us in the fight that New York City cannot afford to lose - join Met Council and help make a difference!