Leo Zhu

Leo Zhu

Housing Justice for All

New York, USA

 

These past few months have flown by with Housing Justice for All, and my experience working under Cea (the coalition’s Campaign Coordinator) and Sumathy (the coalition’s Campaign Organizer) has just ended—with an unexpected turn of events.

One of the coalition’s primary goals from the beginning has been to hold New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, accountable for his actions that have affected thousands of New Yorkers with regard to housing and tenant stability. Throughout his term in office, Cuomo has continually prioritized luxury development and area redevelopment (particularly in major cities such as New York, Buffalo, and Syracuse) over the security and stability of tenants—oftentimes under the public eye, with many of his press releases concealing progress in (luxury) developments under the guise of “affordable housing developments”. 

Now that Cuomo has announced his resignation, the coalition is undergoing a considerable shift in planning and direction for the next two years. While I can’t predict what the coalition will ultimately settle on in their game plan, I can say that I expect the coalition to take early initiative in establishing some sort of relation or involvement with the next Governor. Hopefully, within these coming months we will be able to see growth in the interactions and relations between the Governor’s office and the State’s many housing organizations.

While my efforts in helping the coalition draft their report on the state of housing throughout New York may not yield the same results that I was expecting, being that much of my research has been centered around Governor Cuomo and his real estate interactions, I was still able to learn a lot about existing State laws that have and will continue to impact tenants negatively by promoting luxury development. I’ve drafted detailed overviews on laws such as New York’s 421a and 485a programs, which grant considerable tax breaks to developers, and have noticed how certain loopholes in these laws allow developers to take advantage of them. 

I’m very satisfied to say that after these past few months, I’ve walked away with a new perspective on politics, politicians, and organizations, and most importantly with a renewed vigor towards bettering the state of housing and homelessness.

Leo Zhu /
Housing Justice for All /
New York, USA /

It’s been quite a busy month with Housing Justice for All! In gearing up for the Fall, when the coalition will be releasing a formal report on the state of housing in New York, I’ve been working closely with the fellow intern, Nick, to gather information on Governor Andrew Cuomo and his role in contributing to the ongoing housing crisis.

It was fascinating to discover the behind-the-scenes involvement that Cuomo has had with developers and investors statewide—information that was difficult to uncover outside of his strategic press releases to the public.

In other news, I spent some time this past month helping the coalition with their summer fundraiser. Though I’ve helped facilitate some fundraisers in the past, it was a new experience for me nevertheless: based off of the donations we received, I was able to somewhat gauge the “reach” our coalition had throughout the State and how robust our base of supporters is. It’s safe to say I was surprised with the amount we raised—over $10,000 within a week!—and was glad to see it put to good use. The donations helped fund our launch of what we call the “Summer Strategy Sessions,” which are a series of base-building meetings in which we educate and train our coalition members to help them better prepare for involvement and advocacy.

This past month, I also participated in mass text-banking for the first time. Though the process was quite tedious, with many recipients of our texts showing little to no interest in our cause, what made the experience worth it for me were responses I received from tenants eager to share their experiences as renters in New York and share what they felt could be important steps in the fight against unjust evictions, gentrification, luxury development, and homelessness. 

All in all, I’m feeling satisfied with the work I’ve done with Housing Justice for All. Though I’m heading into my last few weeks working with the coalition, I’m excited to give it my all and I’m incredibly grateful to be working with such amazing people.

Leo Zhu /
Housing Justice for All /
New York, NY, USA /

My internship with Housing Justice for All (HJ4A) has started to operate in full swing. As a legal research and communications intern, I had expectations about the type of work I would be doing. Put simply, I thought I’d be looking at historic and existing housing policy while helping to manage the organization’s internal and external communications, and I’m extremely happy to say that my expectations have not only been met but have been far exceeded.

Working with Cea and Sumathy, the coalition campaign coordinator and organizer, respectively, has been a great privilege and honor. They are both very driven and devoted leaders, and I’ve derived a great deal of inspiration from my work with them. Another intern named Nick is working with us and he is a graduate from NYU Law, making our team of four past and present students of NYU! 

I’ve found myself in an environment that fits perfectly. The brunt of my research and communications work has been independent. I conduct data analysis of surveys such as the American Community Survey and read various articles and briefs on statewide housing policy. I have also created social media “toolkits,” which required getting familiar with graphic design using Canva for the first time.

There seems to be the perfect balance of teamwork and cooperation involved in the process as well. While I notice myself building a more focused and independent work ethic, I’m seeing improvements in my teamwork and communication as well, which is great!

I’m super excited to continue working with Cea, Sumathy, and Nick this summer. We’re currently working on fundraising for a summer leadership development program that the coalition is organizing as a base-building initiative, and we’re gearing up to draft a major housing report that we plan to release by the end of summer–which, to my excitement, will involve a great deal of research.