P.A.'L.A.N.T.E. Harlem organizes and empowers residents of New York City to hold negligent landlords and property managers accountable for unsafe living conditions through community advocacy, outreach, organizing effective tenant associations, providing long-term technical assistance, and connecting individuals and tenant groups to free or reduced-rate legal services and housing benefits.
P.A.'L.A.N.T.E. has been honored with a prestigious 2023 Top-Rated Award by GreatNonprofits, the leading website for community recommendations of charities and nonprofits. The Top-Rated Nonprofit Award is based on the rating and number of reviews that P.A.’L.A.N.T.E. received from volunteers, donors, and clients.
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PRESERVING AFFORDABLE HOUSING
1,532
Rent-stabilized units (15 buildings) repaired in partnership with NYC Housing Preservation & Development Code Enforcement Programs: Proactive Preservation Initiative and Alternative Enforcement Programs.
1,532
12,649
apartments are preserved through repairs and upgrades.
12,649
1,918
families received rent reductions due to conditions in their apartments and public areas.
1,918
$4.2M
in rent refunds to families through court settlements.
$112,000
owed to tenant for rent overcharge. Submitting a rent overcharge complaint with the Division of Housing & Community Renewal (DHCR) resulted in landlord owing tenant a tremendous amount of money.
210
Rent Overcharge complaints filed to The New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
178
Lease Renewal Complaints filed to The New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
Tenant Organizing
We organized over 80 tenant associations including 6,448 apartments. 16 buildings were enrolled in HPD’s proactive preservation program and 5 buildings were enrolled in HPD’s alternative enforcement program.
Program Changes
We succeeded in helping implement program changes to 157 City-owned properties. Family members living in Tenant Interim Lease (T.I.L.) buildings now have the right to succession which was not granted since the programs inception.
Legal Services
1,778 families provided with legal representation.
95 legal workshop trainings.
SUCCESS STORIES
They were left out in the cold when a raging blaze destroyed their Hamilton Heights apartment — but friends and co-workers opened the door to a new home. Roommates Richard Peralta, 19, and Nelson Claure, 48, only had the shirts on their backs when a Nov. 17 fire tore through their W. 144th St. building. The two were subleasing a room from a tenant in a rent-regulated three-bedroom apartment, but by the time firefighters put out the last lick of flames, they were searching for a place to stay. A longtime customer at Claure's store got wind, and she in turn told her friend Elsia Vasquez, the founder of local housing advocacy group PA'LANTE Harlem. Vasquez reached out to her contact list of landlords to see if they had any openings. She was able to find Peralta and Claure a one-bedroom apartment at an affordable housing high-rise on W. 117th St. that's owned by L + M Development Partners. More
Families successfully returned to their rent-stabilized apartments paying the same amount of rent after vicious electrical fires forced the 49 families to become homeless. More
CANARSIE, Brooklyn — Canarsie mom Michaela Bell says she worries for the safety of her two toddlers. She waited seven months in a city shelter to be transferred to an apartment on L Avenue she feels us unsafe for her kids. She found a safe place to live in Harlem, thanks to a community group called P.A.’L.A.N.T.E., a resource for people like Michaela who need help. More