Government

In Debate Over Schools Funding Formula, Advocates From 2019 Task Force Push For More Resources

The city’s schools funding formula is expected to pass as it stands, despite some who have been pushing for changes for years—including members of a 2019 task force whose recommendations were never released by the city.

By Julian Roberts-Grmela

Mapping the Future

17 Units Here. 8,555 There. See Where NYC Builds Its Affordable Housing

By David Brand

Housing and Development

‘Bill of Rights’ Law for NYC Supportive Housing Tenants Went Into Effect Last Week, But Word Isn’t Getting Out

By Jeanmarie Evelly

NYC Housing

NYC’s Latest Vacancy Survey is Bad News for Affordable Apartment-Seekers

By David Brand

News

City on the Edge: Climate Change and New York

Opinion: NYC’s Buildings and Streets Fail to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change

“The city is still tinkering with designs that started to seem old more than a decade ago. We’re moving too slowly (while our cars still go too fast).”
By John Massengale
The Coronavirus Crisis

1 in Every 200 NYC Children Have Lost a Parent or Caregiver to COVID. That’s Almost Twice the National Rate.

Black, Hispanic and Asian children in the city are around three times more likely to have lost a parent or caregiver compared to their white peers, a new analysis reveals.
By Fazil Khan, Columbia Journalism Investigations
COVID-19

1 de cada 200 niños en la ciudad de Nueva York han perdido a un padre o cuidador debido al COVID. Esto representa casi el doble del índice nacional.

Un nuevo análisis revela que los niños negros, hispanos y asiáticos en la ciudad tienen una probabilidad alrededor de tres veces mayor de haber perdido un padre o cuidador, en comparación con sus pares blancos.
By Fazil Khan, Columbia Journalism Investigations
Housing and Development

What Will it Take To Remove the Mold From This Washington Heights Apartment?

Tenant attorneys, advocates and policymakers say the delays that Nichols has encountered demonstrate the flaws of the city’s code enforcement program, and the limits of a housing court system that can move at a glacial pace when it comes to holding owners accountable for unsafe conditions.
By David Brand
Una Ciudad sin Límites

¿Renovar o reconstruir? Albany considera alternativas al control municipal de las escuelas de Nueva York

Los legisladores de Nueva York tienen hasta el 30 de junio para decidir si quieren extender el control de la alcaldía y, en caso de hacerlo, por cuánto tiempo. Si deciden no extender tendrán que pensar en un nuevo sistema, ya que pocos legisladores parecen estar interesados en volver a la estructura de los consejos escolares que existía antes de 2002.
By Julian Roberts-Grmela

Mapping the Future

Opinion: NYC Communities of Color Face Increased Eviction Filings, Displacement Risk, and Soaring Unaffordable Rents

ANHD’s 2022 Housing Risk Chart highlights the compounding pressures, and risks, to affordable housing in dozens of neighborhoods. Indicators of speculation, gentrification, and displacement pressure are distributed throughout the city and show the necessity of tenant and homeowner counseling and support programs that defend affordability in every neighborhood.
Cierra fondo de ayuda por tormenta Ida de $27 millones, desembolsando menos de $2 millones a inmigrantes en Nueva York

Hasta ahora se han distribuido fondos de ayuda a 288 hogares, por un total de 1.601.210 dólares: 345 solicitudes se han finalizado y 201 siguen en proceso de tramitación. Es poco probable que el fondo abra de nuevo a los solicitantes.
New York’s $27 Million Ida Relief Fund for Immigrants Closes, Disbursing Less Than $2 Million

Cash assistance has been dispersed to 288 households so far, for a total of $1,601,210: 345 applications have been finalized and 201 are still being processed. Stakeholders say it's unlikely the fund will open again to applicants.
Opinion: NYC Students Deserve Carbon-Free and Healthy Schools

"The Carbon Free and Healthy Schools plan would be transformational: it would institute energy audits and retrofits of each school, repair and replace HVAC systems, invest in climate resiliency upgrades, and electrify our fleet of school buses. It would make use of schools’ large rooftops to generate solar power and increase school buildings’ overall energy efficiency."
NYC’s Rent Guidelines Board Votes for 2-4% Hikes for Stabilized Units. What Now?

The rate increases are lower than property owners have pushed for, citing rising costs. But tenants and housing advocates who've called for a rent freeze say the hike will worsen the city's eviction crisis.

Podcasts

► Decorative play icon links to post: Discriminación entre latinos y ¿cuántas personas se identifican como afrolatinas en EE.UU.?
Discriminación entre latinos y ¿cuántas personas se identifican como afrolatinas en EE.UU.?

Los resultados del censo de 2020, muestran que 1.2 millones de personas de todas las edades se identificaron como latinos y negros, sustancialmente por debajo de los 6 millones de adultos afrolatinos estimados usando el método de Pew Research Center.
By Daniel Parra
► Decorative play icon links to post: Dificultades para determinar los resultados de dos décadas de operaciones fronterizas financiadas por contribuyentes en Texas
Dificultades para determinar los resultados de dos décadas de operaciones fronterizas financiadas por contribuyentes en Texas

Los gobernadores prometían que el estado de Texas haría lo que el gobierno federal no estaba haciendo que era, en sus términos, asegurar la frontera. En menos de dos décadas, la financiación estatal para la seguridad fronteriza pasó de $110 millones de dólares en 2008-2009 a más de $3.000 millones para el ciclo presupuestario de este año 2022-2023.
By Daniel Parra
► Decorative play icon links to post: City Watch: Council Arts Chair Urges NYC to Boost Budget in ‘Cultural Capital of the World’
City Watch: Council Arts Chair Urges NYC to Boost Budget in ‘Cultural Capital of the World’

Brooklyn Councilmember Chi Ossé wants to commit 1 percent of New York City’s budget to the arts sector, which shed more than 208,000 jobs during the early months of the pandemic.
By David Brand

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City Limits' Housing and Development Bulletin. News and Tools for New Yorkers to Navigate the Housing Crunch

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Special Projects

City on the Edge: Climate Change and New York

Opinion: NYC’s Buildings and Streets Fail to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change

“The city is still tinkering with designs that started to seem old more than a decade ago. We’re moving too slowly (while our cars still go too fast).”
New York’s $27 Million Ida Relief Fund for Immigrants Closes, Disbursing Less Than $2 Million

Cash assistance has been dispersed to 288 households so far, for a total of $1,601,210: 345 applications have been finalized and 201 are still being processed. Stakeholders say it's unlikely the fund will open again to applicants.
State Delays Decision on National Grid Expansion of Greenpoint Gas Facility—Again

This is the sixth time the state has put off a decision on the expansion, which has been criticized by environmentalists as at odds with New York’s climate goals. The DEC says it will wait until the Public Service Commission can evaluate the project.

Age Justice

Seniors’ Housing Needs are a Special Challenge

Rents are rising for seniors as they are for everyone else. But a fixed income, vulnerability to harassment and age-related physical impairments raise the housing stakes for elder New Yorkers.
Aging in New York: City Wrestles with Poverty Among Seniors

Amid the debates about how the minimum wage or better schools might reduce poverty are a million New Yorkers who are largely beyond the reach of those policies. And one in five of them are poor.
Opinion: We Must Invest in Mental Health Care for Older New Yorkers

The reality is that many older adults have already survived trauma—and those experiences carry so much wisdom, perspective, and resilience to share as a result. Investments to increase access to mental health support for seniors would go a long way.

The Ride

NY Air Quality is Improving, But City’s Emissions Goals Are Still Far Off

By 2050, the city’s annual greenhouse gas emissions should be no higher than 12 million metric tons of carbon dioxide—in 2020, buildings alone accounted for 34 million metric tons. “It kind of paints a very stark picture of how much work we have to do and how it can't just be business as usual."
Opinion: Hyper-Policing is the Wrong Response to Brooklyn Subway Attack

"The tragedy occurred despite the massive resources poured into NYPD and the continued expansion of its law enforcement powers."
Targeted Attacks on Unsheltered New Yorkers Highlight Dangers of Homelessness

The shootings occurred amid a crackdown on New Yorkers sleeping on the subways, and reflected a recent spike in the number of homeless New Yorkers slain by assailants.

Investigations

Government

Inside NYC’s Street Homeless Sweeps, Rapid Responses and Signs of Futility

While the policy is handed down by the mayor, an array of New Yorkers—from everyday residents to top city officials to nonprofit service providers—play a role in recommending locations for sweeps, according to hundreds of internal emails reviewed by City Limits.
By David Brand
Economy

Some NYC Vendors Are Using Excluded Workers Fund Aid to Cover City Fines

Vendors and advocates say increased city enforcement is hampering the industry’s recovery, as workers continue to see fewer sales since the pandemic began.
By Daniel Parra
Health and Environment

For NYC Tenants with Inadequate Heat, Enforcement Can Be Elusive

City Limits examined 311 data related to heat and hot water complaints over the past three years, and found the highest number were in areas populated by communities of color and lower-income individuals. They include Washington Heights, followed by several neighborhoods in The Bronx, including the community district where the deadly Twin Parks fire occurred.
By Liz Donovan
CityPlate: Food Policy in NYC

NYC Street Vendor Enforcement Back at Pre-Pandemic Levels, Despite Shift Away From NYPD

From June to December 2021, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), which took over street vendor inspection and enforcement duties in 2021, issued 762 fines, and another 171 fines so far this year. The top five zip codes that saw the most enforcement were those with large immigrant populations.
By Daniel Parra
Housing and Development

Dilapidated Apartments, Lousy Landlords Plague NYC’s Sprawling ‘Scattered-Site’ Supportive Housing Network

There are some 16,000 scattered-site supportive housing units across the city, rented and overseen by nonprofits contracted to provide services to tenants. But outdated contracts that trail actual market rents mean the organizations—and the state and city agencies that fund them—are propping up some of the city’s worst housing.
By David Brand

City Limits - In-depth New York City News

City Limits - In-depth New York City News

Government

In Debate Over Schools Funding Formula, Advocates From 2019 Task Force Push For More Resources

By Julian Roberts-Grmela

Mapping the Future

17 Units Here. 8,555 There. See Where NYC Builds Its Affordable Housing

By David Brand

Housing and Development

‘Bill of Rights’ Law for NYC Supportive Housing Tenants Went Into Effect Last Week, But Word Isn’t Getting Out

By Jeanmarie Evelly

NYC Housing

NYC’s Latest Vacancy Survey is Bad News for Affordable Apartment-Seekers

By David Brand