The Cooperators (film)
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The whole thing about ‘no affordable housing.’ This is it! They did this experiment in 1962. It worked perfectly and they never repeated it.
- Ira Glasser, original cooperatorIn 1962 the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) opened Penn South to provide affordable housing for working people within walking distance of New York City’s garment district. Sixty years later, current residents of the coop recorded oral histories with the original residents to create a permanent record of this bold experiment in cooperative living.
The Cooperators weaves the oral histories into a collective testament to the power of social unionism. Early on the cooperators realized they needed to elect an all-resident Board, established their own power plant, designed and built a playground and created the first NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) that remains a model in the nation.
Through fierce disagreements, humor and a lot of heart, Penn South has remained a beacon of the possibilities of social unionism and affordable housing in New York City.
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Why can’t people, middle income people, have an affordable wonderful place to live? Why do you have to be a rich person to be able to enjoy all this?
- Bertha Bendick, ILGWU staffer & original cooperatorThe Penn South Archive Project was established in 2022 by Penn South Social Services to create a permanent record of the history of Penn South. In the spirit of social unionism, current residents learned the skills to record oral histories themselves. They set out to find and document the experiences of the originals (original residents who moved into Penn South in 1962). The archive has grown to include material culture of the coop including photographs, publications and art created by cooperators. Additional oral history collections from the coop now include artists, immigrants and activists living in Penn South. The entire archive can be viewed on our website.
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We felt then and we feel now that we should have more housing for middle and lower income residents in New York.
- Velma Hill, cooperatorPeople like to say that the affordable housing crisis is impossible to solve. Penn South proves them wrong! We made The Cooperators to preserve a record of this extraordinary counter example – a co-op in the middle of New York City that provides community and affordable housing to thousands of people.
We document the history of working peoples' achievements, which are so often not recognized. Living in an affordable cooperative makes it possible for us to engage in activities that benefit Chelsea and beyond. The legacy of social unionism continues to inform the culture of Penn South. We offer The Cooperators for free screenings to individuals and groups organizing in their communities. Contact us for more information.
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Please download the Discussion Prompts here
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In 1962, spearheaded by the United Housing Federation and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, Penn South opened as a 10-building complex of affordable housing in the middle of New York City. So often public good is presented as an impossible dream, too complicated or too expensive to be realized. The success of Penn South proves those beliefs wrong.
The Penn South Archive Project and director Ruth Sergel created “The Cooperators” to ignite a conversation about what we can achieve when we work collectively. We hope the film is a helpful tool as we boldly imagine our future. We look forward to hearing from you!
Impact of Affordable Housing (27:18)* Many of the cooperators describe being able to attend school, live as artists and/or activists, and have children because their housing is affordable.
How did having affordable housing impact the lives of the cooperators? If you had affordable housing, what kinds of life choices would be possible for you?
Unions (05:18 and 32:14) The International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) built Penn South. When the co-op opened in 1962 the garment industry was at its peak. Nationally, about 32% of American workers were members of a union. Today, that figure hovers at about 7%.
How could union membership be strengthened today? What could unions do to advance the issue of affordable housing and other social issues that affect us?
Displacement (06:34) Penn South was made possible because the local government declared a large working class neighborhood a ”slum,” and the existing buildings and businesses were subsequently torn down. Many in the local community protested, but they were ultimately displaced. Only a small percentage ended up living in Penn South.
If you wanted to create affordable housing today, what alternative to acquiring land would you use to avoid the displacement that happened at Penn South?
What do you think the role of government should be in respect to affordable housing?
Decision-making Power (18:44) The cooperators quickly realized that having a board made up of people who didn’t live in the
co-op wasn’t going to work. They organized and were successful in creating a completely cooperator run board of directors.
Who controls the decision-making for organizations/schools that you are a part of? How does that structure affect the possibilities for constructive and responsive action?
Working in Community (12:04) Penn South was originally built with very few resources for children. When more young families moved into the co-op, the cooperators determined that they needed a playground. They held meetings with children and their parents to find out what residents wanted, then they designed and built the playground themselves.
What expertise and talents do you have in your community? How could those resources be shared to enrich the community, and meet some of your challenges?
Immigrants and Unions Penn South was sponsored by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU). It was known as the” immigrant union” because its members were primarily women immigrants, who had traditional sewing skills but limited English. Organizers created educational and social programs to support workers and to build solidarity among the diverse membership. As a result, the practice of social unionism developed. The union became involved in issues beyond the workplace, often creating solutions. Penn South Cooperative housing is an examples of social unionism as is The Chinatown Child Care Center, the Union Health Clinic, and the Immigration Rights Project.
Should unions play a role in issues outside the workplace? Should unions play a role in supporting its immigrant workers with issues outside of the workplace?
Access to Affordable Food (13:40) In Penn South’s early years, it had a cooperative grocery store that provided affordable food. Original cooperators also formed their own food co-op by obtaining food from the city’s meat and vegetable wholesale markets. Currently, there is revived discussion about the possibility of government-run grocery stores.
What is the cost and availability of food in your neighborhood? What would your ideal local affordable government-run grocery store look like?
Expanding the Vision: Affordable Electricity (19:51) After negotiations with Con ED failed the coop decided to build an alternative, a co-generation
power plant, which provided a more affordable source for the coop. At the time, the idea was controversial. A cooperator in the film describes people’s different responses to this change
How do you negotiate conflict in your organization or social-movement work? What strategies are constructive and what bogs projects down and prevents groups from reaching their goals? How do you tell the difference when you’re in the middle of working on projects?
Responsive Change: Penn South Senior Center (23:44) Over the years, as the original cooperators aged and their needs changed, Penn South made the choice to be responsive to the aging sector of the community. They created the first NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) and this model became the standard for the rest of the country.
What changes would you make in your housing, or community, to be responsive to the genuine needs of the people wo live there? What are the needs in your community? What changes would you make to offer more support for children and seniors?
Privatization vs Affordability (28:47) Penn South cooperators at different times, had the opportunity to privatize the co-op and sell their apartments at “market rate” and make huge profit. Over the years, many other affordable-housing communities in New York have done just that. Penn South bucked the trend and chose to remain affordable for the next generations.
What about Penn South’s “culture,” made its residents choose preserving affordability over personal gain? What choice would you make in that situation? How do communities sustain or lose their sense of public good?
Public Housing (26:05) In NYC, there are struggles to save public housing. Tenants are fighting displacement so people can stay in their communities. They’re also demanding that new housing be truly affordable.
What new models (land trusts, etc.) of affordable housing exist today?
What role should the government play to provide affordable housing?
* Note that the numbers that appear in parentheses after topic headings indicate the time the discussion occurs in “The Cooperators.” For instance, 27:18 indicates that the discussion takes place 27 minutes and 18 seconds after the beginning of the film. on
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Resources on Social Unionism & Affordable Housing
:: Books
Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis, Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis (Haymarket Books, 2024)
:: Articles
Zohran Mamdani is Calling for City-Owned Grocery Stores. NYC Already Has Them, The Gothamist, Ryan Kailath, 22 July 2025
Vienna has been Declared a Renters’ Utopia - Here’s Why , The Guardian, Justin Kadi 10 July 2025
Home is Where the Union Is: What Tenant Unions can Learn from Labor Unions and How They Can Both Work Together to Win Big, In These Times, Rebecca Burns, 6 May 2025
‘They Look Like Homes for Rich People’: Why Britain Should Look to Europe for its Council Housing Revolution, The Guardian, Rowan Moore, 9 November 2024
Inside the Right’s War on the Homeless, In These Times, Rebecca Burns, 13 August 2024
A National Tenants’ Union Has Arrived, In These Times, Rebecca Burns, 6 August 2024
What if Public Housing Were for Everyone: Local Governments are Trying a New Way to Address the Housing Crisis, Vox, Rachel Cohen Booth, 10 February 2024
The Social Housing Secret: How Vienna Became the World’s Most Livable City, The Guardian, Philip Oltermann, 10 Janruary 2024
Imagine a Renters’ Utopia. It Might Look Like Vienna, New York Times, Francesca Mari, 26 May 2023
Social Housing in the Spotlight: NYC Lawmakers Seek ‘Paradigm Shift’ in Tackling Affordability Crisis, City Limits, Jeanmarie Evelly, 10 March 2023
Reflections on Vienna’s Social Housing Model from Tenants Advocates, The Nation, Oksana Mironova, 5 Jahuary 2023
How Unions Can Solve The Housing Crisis, In These Times, Erik Forman, October 2018
What is Social Housing? Basic Principles for the US, Alliance for Housing Justice
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The Cooperators:
Andrew Alpern, Bertha Bendick, Eric Darton, Katya de Kadt, Margo DePaola, Bernie & Paulette Esrig, Millie Glaberman, Ira & Trude Glasser, Norman & Velma Hill, Susan Immergut, Georgia Keghlian, Albert Machlin, Walter Naegle, Pauline Rothstein, Harold Vander Malle
A film by Ruth Sergel & The Penn South Archive Project
Co-coordinators: Tracy Gross & Trudy Rudnick
Margarita Aguilar, Cara Aloisio, Christiane Bird, Silvie Bird, Leah Cooper, Bea Corbett, Peggy Crull, Lisa Ellis, Olive Eng, Sonia Goldstein, Liz Greenberg, John Harris, Nancy Kurtz , Loraine Machlin, Deirdre May, Walter Naegle, Lynne Oddo, Susan Ortega, Joan Ostroff, Bridget Robinson, Pauline Rothstein, Ellen Semel, Fiona Shuldiner, Gail Siegal, Wendy Silva, Colette Swietnicki, Abby Tannenbaum, Liz Taub, Thelma Thomas, Rena Zager
Re-recording Mixer & Sound Designer
Avi Zev Weider
Images
courtesy of The Cooperators
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives, Cornell University
NYC Municipal Archives
St. Eleftherios, Greek Orthodox Church
Workers United
Doug & Rick Acosta
Jane & Dan Acosta Collection
Maggie Block
Judith Eisenberg
Jeff Dullea Garden Collection
Joe Raskin
Susan & Jack Raskin collection
Lois Weiss
Robert & Rose Zelman documents
Film Excerpts
The Earth and Its Peoples, Library of Congress
Urban Oasis, J. Phinias Antonoffsky, Cindy Holden
Rocket Man, Doug & Rick Acosta
Art at Penn South
Serena Jost, Song: Silver Star, Publishing: Private Pocket Music (ASCAP)
Harriet Kriegel, Domestic Tranquility
Gary Schoichet, People at Work
Music
Wurk (Which Side Are You On) Linqua Franqua
Thank You
Workers United
Rustin Foundation
Holy Apostles Church
Institute for Public Architecture
Andrew Tilson and the Workers United Film Festival
Tammy Arnstein • Cole Cahill • May Chen • Esther Cohen • Eric Dirnbach • Bill Even • Michelle Fiordaliso • Pamela Griffiths • Jamie Haft • Nina Haft • Richard Harkness • Sherry Kane • Edgar Romney • Naomi Schiller • Natalia Shevin • Amy Starecheski • Liz Taub • Caitlin Zaloom
Special Thanks
The Kheel Center
Steven Calco & Curtis Lyons
Jude Calder
This project was supported
by grants from:
The 21st Century
ILGWU Heritage Fund
&
The Lily Auchincloss Foundation
The Penn South Archive Project
is an initiative of
Penn South Social Services
Gary Schoichet, President
Matt Kahn, Executive Director
Anna Crull, Graphic Designer
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Oh, listen, you can’t live in the city unless you live in Penn South. Let’s be honest
- Margo DePaulo, original cooperatorAwards:
• Workers United Film Festival 2024
Audience Award for Documentary ShortScreenings & Presentations (2024-2025)
• Institute for Public Architecture (IPA)
Governor’s Island Block House• SUNY Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies
• Penn South
Screenings and New Cooperator Orientations• CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
“Building Community Through Social Unionism”
Collaborators: Tammy Arenstein (Coordinator of Path Home), May Chen (former VP, ILGWU)• NYU Gallatin
“Storytelling as a Tool for Organizing”
Collaborators: Lyn Lewis and Rob Robinson (New School Housing Justice Project), May Chen (former VP, ILGWU)• Urban Academy High School
Rachel Birdsall, Teacher• Wellfleet Library, Massachusetts
Hosted by Colette Swietnick• Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)
Daniel Levinson Wilk, Professor of History• New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA)
Ana Djordjevic, Labor Educator• Pratt Institute
Social Justice/Social Practice Minor
Caitlin Cahill, Professor of Urban Geography & Politics, Co-Coordinator,• PSC-CUNY
Professional Staff Congress
Ana Djordjevic, Brooklyn College• DSA at Rutgers University Labor Center
Aaron Bernstein, Organizer• Brooklyn College – Macaulay Honors College
Professor Veronica ManlowUpcoming Screenings – 2025
• The Living City Project
Tanya Gallo, Co-founder, Gap Year Program• CUNY Graduate Center
Susan Opotow, Professor of Critical & Social Psychology Morningside Heights Coop• Hunter College (CUNY) Laura Wolf-Powers, Associate Professor of Urban Policy & Planning
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The Cooperators (36 minute documentary film, 2024)
Created by Ruth Sergel & the Penn South Archive Project
Audience Award Winner, Workers United Film Festival
Who said an immigrant garment workers’ union could erect an affordable housing project right smack dab in the middle of Manhattan??
No one.
But they did it anyway!
In 1962 the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) threw open the doors to the Penn South coop. The Cooperators, weaves a collective story of the joys and combat that have kept this bold experiment in affordable housing flourishing to today.
If you are an organizer – we made this film for you! CONTACT US to schedule a free screening.