Scott Sommer, a tenants’ rights activist for over 40 years, grew up in a rent-controlled apartment and was the long-time chair of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, New York’s oldest tenant union. He got his start as a tenant organizer at the former Bensonhurst Tenants Council, a Met Council affiliate. A former legal services attorney, Sommer went on to work for his union, the United Auto Workers, where he was the New York Sub-Regional Director. As a tenant activist and union leader Sommer helped lead numerous campaigns to strengthen tenants’ rights and for tenants to have access to legal services. Sommer currently works as a mediator specializing in labor disputes.

Vajra Kilgour has been involved in tenant struggles since the late 1960s. She has been co-chair of her building's tenant association and has worked as a tenant organizer in Harlem and the South Bronx. She served on the first board of directors of the Harlem Tenants Council and has been a member of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, where she is still on the staff of Tenant/Inquilino.

Metropolitan Council on Housing

The website for the Metropolitan Council on Housing (Met Council) is www.metcouncilonhousing.org. You can find us on Facebook: metcouncilonhousing, on Twitter: @met_council, and on Instagram: met_council.

Anyone who wants to be on Met Council's e-mail list for notifications of actions, hearings, and other pertinent events can send an e-mail to info@metcouncilonhousing.org.

Met Council's counseling lines are open Mondays and Wednesdays 1:30-8:00 pm, Tuesdays 5:30-8:00 pm, and Fridays 1:30-5:00 pm, at 212-979-0611. Please call that number for help with all individual housing-related questions - we cannot help with housing issues via the Housing Notebook email.