Michael McKee, a fiery tenant rights activist that helped cement various rental protections for residents throughout New York, has died of brain cancer in his Manhattan apartment at the age of 85. His husband Eric Stenshoel made the announcement.
McKee’s defining foray into collectively agitating for better housing conditions began in 1969, when his landlord refused to mend a broken window in his apartment on W. 17th Street. He was a film editor at the time.
After a boiler blew in 1970, and remained that way, McKee and his fellow tenants began withholding rent; their strike would lead to the first collective bargaining contract between renters and landlords in NYC, signed in 1977. The agreement was very favorable for Mckee and his fellow renters, and they eventually purchased the building outright and converted it into a co-op…