Members of the Campaign to Save 2,000 Homes asked the city council last night for its cooperation in protecting homes whose rents may increase after rent control protections end in December.

"We're not here against the landlords," said one tenant with rent-protected status at last night's meeting. "It's our American dream to one day own our own homes, but we're working people who just need a little help."

The appeal to the council follows a meeting by the campaign last Saturday, when more than 200 community members met to discuss the campaign's goal of protecting 2,000 homes from the expected rent increases.

"We need a new community contract with the real estate industry," said Louise Dunlap, a campaign organizer. "To be part of our community, the real estate industry has to make concessions to what the community wants."

The group hopes that all of the city's major landlords will follow the lead of Harvard University, the city's largest landlord, and continue to sell housing at a below-market price.

The University recently agreed to offer 100 units of housing to the city at discounted prices and to cap rent increases at five percent per year.

The campaign proposed a transfer tax on the sale of large buildings to fund a subsidy program and extend it to more tenants.

Steve Meacham, an organizer for the Eviction Free Zone and tenant. advocate, said that although the campaign is targeting only 2,000 housing units, an estimated 13,000 to 14,000 units are at risk once price controls are abolished.

"A lot more people are at risk, but these 2,000 are means- tested," Meacham said. "They've had to prove to the government that they are low to middle income people. Our campaign is directed to the city's larger landlords who are making a substantial profit."

The campaign has received endorsements from organizations including the Harvard/Central Square Clergy Association, the Eviction Free Zone, the Cambridge Tenant Senate and the Stu-Lin Tenants Association.

Speaking at the council meeting, Bob Tobin, a member of the Cambridge Clergy for Affordable Housing, said the campaign's plea provides the council with a chance to practice "politics of compassion."

"We need to help those people who want to remain in their homes and with us in Cambridge," Tobin said.

Responding to the charges that landlords have not responded to the Campaign's requests, Lewis Robert, manager of Stu-Lin Realty, said his company's position "has always been to act in a responsible manner."

"We deal with each of our tenants on an individual basis," Robert said.

Robert said Stu-Lin, the city's second largest landlord, plans to raise rents moderately when price controls expire.

At press time, the council had not yet acted on the resolution