Get to Know Brooklyn A – Tiffany Femiano

We’re starting a new regular blog series called “Get to Know Brooklyn A” to give you the chance to learn more about our amazing staff! This month, we’re talking to Tiffany Femiano, the Program Director for Preserving Affordable Housing: Queens. This isn’t Tiffany’s first time working for Brooklyn A (she worked here just after law school as a VISTA Americorps fellow). She has returned to lead our new Queens housing team. We’re thrilled to have her back and glad to have her in the Brooklyn A family! Read our Q&A with Tiffany to learn more about her:

Q: The Preserving Affordable Housing: Queens program is the first time Brooklyn A has provided tenant legal defense outside of Brooklyn in our organization’s history. How does it feel helping extend civil legal services to more New Yorkers?

Tiffany: It’s very exciting and feels very special to me. Brooklyn A was where I started my career as a tenant advocate, and it has been a truly heartening homecoming. Brooklyn A has always been the standard against which I’ve measured other organizations. For me, Brooklyn A is a pioneer in terms of client centered movement lawyering, and my goal is to bring those principles into our Queens practice so that we can make lasting changes within the communities that we serve.

Extending our services to Queens residents is monumental. Universal Access to Counsel is instrumental in connecting tenants with attorneys who can help preserve their housing and prevent displacement. Unfortunately, there simply aren’t enough advocates to represent every tenant in court. It’s a true privilege to offer our services to tenants.

Q: What’s one of the highlights from your career that you’re most proud of?

Tiffany: I’m most proud of the number of tenants that I’ve represented and provided legal advice to over the years. I’ve achieved some tremendous outcomes and I’ve also learned some hard lessons along the way. All these experiences helped shape me as an advocate and a person. I’m proud of the relationships that I’ve developed over the years, including with tenants who still periodically check in with me to give me an update or ask for additional advice.

I’m equally proud to have met many dedicated and skilled tenant advocates. I’ve worked closely with some truly amazing folks who taught me a lot about the work and myself. Developing relationships with advocates of all different backgrounds and experiences has given me insight into how to lead a team of dynamic advocates. Seeing advocates come into their own while at the same time achieving life-changing outcomes for tenants is powerful and rewarding, and constantly reminds me why I do this work.

Q: What does “housing stability” mean to you?

Tiffany: For me, housing stability conveys a degree of predictability with respect to securing and maintaining safe and affordable housing. It means that—no matter what happens in a person’s day—tenants have a home where they are surrounded by the people and things that they love, they can close their door to the outside world, and feel secure. It means freedom from worrying about whether a tenant will be able to pay their rent, whether their landlord will make repairs in their apartment, or—worse yet—whether their landlord will harass or retaliate against them to force them to leave or give up their tenancy rights in some way. Rental subsidies, rent regulation, and good cause eviction, together with New York City’s statutory framework for enforcing habitability and harassment standards, ensure a degree of housing stability especially when used in conjunction with the Universal Access to Counsel model.

Q: What would be your number one tip to all NYC tenants who want to make sure their rights are protected?

Tiffany: Knowledge is power. It may sound cliché, but it’s true. The more that a tenant knows about their specific housing situation, the more power they have in terms of self-advocacy.

This includes knowing their apartment’s regulatory status, knowing about different administrative agencies including Housing Preservation and Devlopment (HPD) and the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), as well as speaking with neighbors about their experiences and connecting around shared goals. One of my goals as a housing attorney is to empower and educate tenants on their rights. Tenants and attorneys can learn a lot from each other, and tenants often share the information that they learn from their attorneys with their immediate community. In that way, even if a tenant doesn’t qualify for an attorney through Universal Access to Counsel or can’t afford to hire their own attorney, they still have tools to engage in self-advocacy.

Q: Outside of work, what are some of your favorite things to do in NYC?

Tiffany: There are so many memorable spots in NYC, but I have a few go-to places to where I like to decompress when I have the time.

One of my favorite things to do in NYC is to essentially wander around aimlessly. You’d be surprised at what you can get into just by seeing where your feet can take you. That said, Forest Park in Queens will forever be my favorite place to spend time in NYC. It’s a place where lots of different communities come together to enjoy nature. It’s huge and there’s something for everyone. You can hike the trails, ride a horse, take a ride on a carousel, or just sit on the lawn and enjoy a picnic. And the people watching is A+.

Q: What’s one movie, book, TV show, or album you’ve enjoyed recently that you’d recommend to everyone?

Tiffany: The book “Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life” by Marshall B. Rosenberg is a gamechanger. I recommend it to everyone because it’s like a bell that you can’t un-ring. It has nothing to do with physical violence – it’s all about the way we all communicate with one another, including identifying our own feelings and needs, as well as developing empathy for others’ experiences. It’s a must read.

I’m currently listening to Evening Elephants on repeat, and re-watching Cheers, which will lead into Frasier. Highly recommend.