encouraging more New Yorkers to report discrimination on their housing search by visualizing their rights and how to assert them.
What we did:
Unlock NYC, Neighbors Together, CUP, and designer Gica Tam worked together to develop Record it. Report it!, a pocket-sized guide to the rights that New Yorkers with rental assistance vouchers have on their housing search. We developed the content based on our organizations’ know your rights workshops, and hosted two community feedback sessions during the design process.
What happened next:
We hosted a launch event for Record it. Report it! in fall 2021, where volunteers canvassed and distributed print copies at sites across the city, such as homeless shelters, subway stations, and public benefits offices. Multiple partners are distributing copies of the booklet to their constituents, and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) shares a digital copy with every incoming voucher holder, including recipients of the Emergency Housing Voucher program.
Why it matters:
Anyone who has ever tried to use a rental assistance voucher knows that it’s unfairly difficult to find a landlord who will accept it. However, it is often not clear what phrases or practices a landlord or broker is allowed to use with potential tenants – and which ones constitute illegal discrimination. By making a complex public policy pocket-sized, illustrated, and broken down into its core components, we hope that more NYC renters with vouchers feel confident asserting their rights on their housing search.
Year: 2021
Location: Brooklyn, NY
My role: content contributions, user experience feedback, copyediting, community member recruitment, launch planning and execution
Collaborators:
CUP: Clair Beltran, Sucharitha Yelimeli
Neighbors Together: Annie Carforo, Nailah Abdul-Mubdi
Designer: Gica Tam
See booklet for additional contributors, reviewers, and funders.