We envision a world built on principles of equality, justice, and solidarity, where care will replace the forces of policing, criminalization, and abandonment of marginalized communities. We believe that treating housing as a human right in is a form of investment in human and community life that can fundamentally transform society. Realizing this vision begins from where we stand. We work to transform Hudson and Catskill, the places we come from and call home, through empowerment, education, and mobilization around housing justice.

Gentrification is a manifestation of economic and institutional racism and oppression, a contemporary descendent of practices like red-lining, on full display in our small but diverse rural communities. Folks who have lived in Hudson and Catskill for generations are threatened with displacement, the erasure of their histories, and the erosion of and divestment from community services and spaces, all for the sake of development that is designed by and for wealthy newcomers.

Rather than the intervention of “experts” or representation by those who have no lived experience of the injustices we face, we know that real transformation begins with amplifying the voices of those who have been rendered voiceless within institutions and systems of governance that were never built for them. We organize based on the needs of the most marginalized among us. We educate and empower folks to fight with and for their neighbors because collective, grassroots power dismantles systemic injustice. Mobilizing around the right to decent housing for all empowers communities to fight for social justice at a level as fundamental and cherished as the place we call home.