Asian Americans for Equality

Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) is an organization based in Chinatown, Manhattan that advocates for civil rights and affordable housing, which it is also involved in developing.[1][2][3][4][5]

History

Asian Americans for Equal Employment was formed in 1974 after a successful fight to include Chinese American workers in the construction of Confucius Plaza. It was involved in protests the following year after Peter Yew, an engineer, was beaten by police in Chinatown.[6] 20,000 picketers went to the New York City Hall under AAFE's leadership.[7] It responded in 1982 to the Killing of Vincent Chin in Detroit. AAFE was involved in protesting prison construction and the Special Manhattan Bridge District. The group also gradually became involved in housing issues with programs such as protecting tenants against "negligent and predatory landlords" through lawsuits and helping people learn their rights as tenants.[6]

In January 1985, a building at 54 Eldridge Street burned down, killing two tenants and leaving a further 125 homeless. The fire was caused by wiring and the landlord had previously shut off heat and hot water, leaving residents to use electric heaters. The American Red Cross asked AAFE's executive director at the time, Doris Koo, to provide translation for victims. Koo resolved to shift the organization's focus to building housing. AAFE worked to create Equality Houses with Enterprise Community Partners, two low-income tenements, for a total of 59 units. Thirty percent of units were reserved for homeless people. The project was successful and AAFE continued similar efforts through the 1990s. They were involved in developing "several hundred affordable units in rehabilitated buildings in Chinatown and the Lower East Side". AAFE was involved in the construction of several new buildings. In those decades, the organization grew, spinning off two corporations and becoming a prominent landlord and advocate, a shift for which it attracted criticism.[6] In 1997, the organization reported 3,000 "dues paying members".[7]

The organization has since presented itself as "a cultural broker for new immigrants", helping them navigate the housing process in New York. In 2016, AAFE was described as "the largest developer of affordable housing in Lower Manhattan, having preserved or developed eighty-six buildings with more than seven hundred apartments since 1989".[6]

In 2011, AAFE established the non-profit Hardesty Renaissance Economic Development Corporation (HREDC) to purchase the abandoned Hardesty Federal Complex in Kansas City, Missouri.[8] The organization acquired the site at auction for $500,000 and proposed converting it into a regional "food hub", though the project ultimately stalled and the site was sold to a developer in 2023 to become affordable housing.[9][10]

References

  1. ^ Gee, Peter; Le, Douglas Nam; Lee, Richard; Yoo, Jo-Ann; Kui, Christopher (2010–2011). "The Struggle for Quality Affordable Housing in New York City: Asian Americans for Equality". Asian American Policy Review. 21: 9–17.
  2. ^ Listokin, David; Listokin, Barbara (January 2001). "Asian Americans for equality: A case study of strategies for expanding immigrant homeownership". Housing Policy Debate. 12 (1): 47–75. doi:10.1080/10511482.2001.9521398. ISSN 1051-1482. S2CID 154726487.
  3. ^ "Land Use. Exclusionary Zoning. Community Displacement within New York City Not Actionable under New York Constitution. Asian Americans for Equality v. Koch, 72 N. Y. 2d 121, 527 N. E. 2d 265, 531 N. Y. S. 2d 782 (1988)". Harvard Law Review. 102 (5): 1092–1099. 1989. doi:10.2307/1341474. ISSN 0017-811X. JSTOR 1341474.
  4. ^ Hevesi, Dennis (January 26, 2003). "A different kind of rally in Chinatown". Chicago Tribune. pp. 16–7. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  5. ^ Kwong, Peter; Miščevič, Dušanka Dušana (2005). Chinese America : the untold story of america's oldest new community. New York : New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton. pp. 293–300. ISBN 978-1-56584-962-4.
  6. ^ a b c d Schalliol, David (2016). Affordable Housing in New York: The People, Places, and Policies That Transformed a City. Princeton University Press. pp. 276–280. doi:10.2307/j.ctvs32rwj. ISBN 978-0-691-19715-9. JSTOR j.ctvs32rwj. S2CID 242348796.
  7. ^ a b Jacobs, Andrew (January 12, 1997). "What a Difference Two Decades Make: Asian Americans for Equality Is Attacked as the Establishment It Once Fought". The New York Times.
  8. ^ "Hardesty Renaissance ready for its next step". Northeast News. August 1, 2012. Retrieved January 30, 2026.
  9. ^ Bushnell, Michael (August 24, 2011). "GSA closes auction on Hardesty Federal Complex". Northeast News. Retrieved January 30, 2026.
  10. ^ Partain, Dorri (June 21, 2023). "Former Federal Complex Transformation to Commence in July to Include Public Market". Northeast News. Retrieved January 30, 2026.
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