By Nina Mandell
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
EAST HARLEM — El Barrio residents furious at plans to sell their homes to a developer marched in East Harlem Sunday.
The residents of the Dawnay Day buildings were joined by anti-gentrification protesters to fight plans by Hope Community, Inc. to buy 47 foreclosed homes.
"We know Hope Community, which is why we don’t want Hope Community [to own our homes]," Juan Haro, one of the protest organizers, told DNAinfo. "They have deplorable housing conditions."
British company Dawnay Day bought the homes for $225 million in 2007, but the company has since gone bust.
Haro and the protesters said that the sale of the housing complex to Hope Community would cost the area valuable affordable housing for low-income families.
Haro said the group was looking into two other possible buyers for the complex.
The protest, which was led by the activist group Movement for Justice in El Barrio, attracted about 30 supporters who chanted "El Barrio is our home" in Spanish.
Eudora Ortiz, a retired school social worker, came from her nearby townhouse to join in the protest, even though she didn’t live in the complex for sale.
"I’m lucky I have $30,000 that I can put down on a down payment for a house," she said. "But there are people here who don’t have that."
The group also slammed City Council member Melissa Mark-Viverito for supporting Hope Community's purchase of the complex.
Residents of the buildings, like Carolyn Reus, said she just wanted the conditions in the complex to improve with a responsible landlord.
"I would like to see buildings maintained and kept in good condition," she said, noting that her bathroom had been plagued with leaks for years.
