Eric Dinowitz is a proponent of the people

To the editor:

We all deserve access to safe and decent housing. This should not be a controversial opinion, but the unfortunate reality is that some landlords in our borough don’t care what anybody thinks or requires, leaving their tenants to live in dangerous or destabilizing conditions.

For the past 10 years, I have worked hard to help the tenants of the Bronx understand their rights, advocate for better conditions, and, when the conditions are particularly harmful, seek resolution from our government. Six of those have been spent as the current executive director of West Bronx Housing and Neighborhood Resource Center and four right here working for the 11th Council District.

As an organizer, I think that it's important for readers to think about what the right to safe and decent housing truly means and what it takes to put those words into action. This where I have witnessed firsthand the deep commitment to addressing substandard housing and preventing eviction held by Councilman Eric Dinowitz. Working together, we’ve personally knocked on doors and helped tenants organize against their neglectful landlord and the unsafe conditions in their homes.

I heard the concern in his voice when he came across a Facebook post about an older adult in Kingsbridge who had spent several days in a freezing cold apartment because their landlord hadn’t put the heat on. Dinowitz made a personal call to the city’s housing code enforcement agency to request that they send out an inspector. When my organization received a call about a doorman in Riverdale who was evicted, Dinowitz staff went above and beyond to restore him to his home.

It is with the support of the councilman that West Bronx Housing is able to help 1,200 Bronxites per year, more than four hundred from Council District 11 alone, with individualized caseworker assistance offered in-person at our office. Our two offices collaborate on monthly housing clinics, and his team has been incredibly helpful in advocating for tenants in need of responses from our city’s agencies for the entirety of his tenure in the City Council.

Is there more work to do? Of course there is. That’s why having dedicated and passionate advocates for tenants is so important. I thank the previous letter writers for their sincere and compassionate concern for the welfare of Bronxites, and look forward to working with them to fight to further housing rights in the Bronx.

Joshua Stephenson

Executive director

West Bronx Housing and Neighborhood Resource Center, Inc.