“We the Tenants”: Resident Organizing in New York City’s Public Housing, 1964-1978

Abstract

In the 1960s, resident organizers in New York City brought demands for jobs, political power, and self-determination into public housing from local freedom struggles. Facing budget shortfalls and political hostility, the city’s Housing Authority built alliances with these activists. The partnership programs they created—the Tenant Patrol and the Residents Advisory Council—engaged thousands of residents in community programming, employment opportunities, and political activism. Resident organizing improved working-class neighborhoods, helped preserve public housing, and connected residents to broader struggles for social and economic justice. This article situates tenant organizing within histories of public housing, social movements, and antipoverty policy, and argues that these efforts helped to sustain and improve the lives of poor and working-class New Yorkers in an era of scarcity.