Meet Marcela

Marcela Mitaynes migrated to New York City from Peru as a child with her family and was raised in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. She is now raising her own family in that same vibrant, beautiful community. Marcela was evicted from her rent stabilized apartment of 30 years, and began her life’s work of empowering her neighbors to know their rights and find their voices to fight to stay in their homes. Through her work with Neighbors Helping Neighbors, and with tenants throughout New York State, Marcela was instrumental in the passage of the historic Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019. This legislation dramatically and comprehensively strengthened the rights of tenants in rent stabilized apartments to defend their homes and communities.

Through this fight, Marcela realized that the housing crisis wasn’t much different than “politics-as-usual”: the powerful few gatekeeping critical information and decisions from families and communities seeking the stability to make better lives for themselves. She also realized that housing is about so much more than the monthly rent: it is a basic human right. It is about living free from landlord harassment in a safe home with dignity. It is about educational access for our children. It is about having the collective power to be bold in protecting our waterfront from increasing climate threats. It is about taking control of the conditions that shape our health and opportunities. And it is most importantly about putting down strong roots and growing resilient communities in the face of mounting extremism.