Southside United HDFC (Los Sures)

On June 1972, with minimal staff and a handful of volunteers, Los Sures began the daunting task of rebuilding its community, the Southside of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The community residents who started the organization were responding to an epidemic of landlord abandonment, withdrawal of city services, and illegal evictions by landlords. Illegal evictions included some property owners who were trying to vacate their buildings in order to change the ethnic composition of the neighborhood. Los Sures fought back by promoting community-based control of housing, through both management and ownership. In 1975, Los Sures became the first community-based organization to enter into agreements to manage City-owned properties. A few years later, it was one of the first groups to undertake large-scale rehabilitation. Today, Los Sures is regarded as a pioneer in both the management and development of low-income housing. The organization remains committed to its founders' mission: to create a growing and satisfying community in the building of a more humane environment.