Adi Talwar
P.S. 42 Claremont Community School in the Bronx
One out of 10 students in the city’s public school system lived in temporary housing during the last school year, according to data released by the state on Monday. That’s 114,659 students, according to The New York Times, and that number hasn’t changed much at all since last year.
There hasn’t been a significant increase in public or private dollars spent to support these students, The Times reports. For example, the city has recently funded social workers to focus on homeless students but there is still just 1 social worker for every 1660 students.
The issue looks a lot worse in some districts over others. In one single Bronx district, City Limits has found, 10,548 of 54,415 students —one in five— who experienced homelessness.
The news underscores the need for new affordable housing, according to Giselle Routhier, policy director at Coalition for the Homeless. “The Mayor boasts about creating a record number of affordable housing units, but far too few of those apartments go to the families being forced out of the housing market and into homelessness,” she said in a statement.
The news comes as efforts in the City Council to fund more housing for the homeless are heating up, Gothamist reports. The focus is a bill that would require 15 percent of the mayor’s 300,000 units in his housing plan be set aside for the homeless. Mayor de Blasio has been sour on the plan in the past but suggested to Crain’s this week that he might be supportive.
“I think negotiations have been very productive, and I’m confident that we’ll get somewhere,” de Blasio said.
Here’s your other housing news:
From City Limits:
At an eviction tribunal on Tuesday, New York City’s ‘worst landlords’ were put on trial for what advocates considered unfair evictions. The event. The witness spoke through a Spanish interpreter. The defendant was a management company. The crime: a major capital improvement (MCI) at a rent-stabilized building in the Bronx. Read more.
Bill de Blasio’s housing plan, like every modern mayor’s, focuses on private apartments, not public housing. There’s a growing sense that saving NYCHA will require a different orientation—right now. Read more
‘Mistakes were made early, they were made often, they were repeated, they were compounded,’ said Staten Island Borough President James Oddo, of the borough’s plans for resiliency to protect against another Hurricane Sandy. The borough is till waiting for a cogent resiliency plan. Read more.
From around the city:
Two landlords who bought significant chunks of rent-stabilized properties with plans to do renovations and hike the rents are falling behind on some loan payments, WSJ reports. “Like many property owners and lenders, we are simply adjusting to the new regulations, and that will take some time to do,” a spokesperson for one manager said.
Workers at Housing Works rallied Tuesday morning to protest an adversarial workplace environment and to demand their employer “remain neutral” about their push to unionize, the Brooklyn Eagle reports. “I had high hopes for Housing Works, but after working here for a while I’ve found that there is a high turnover because of many structural issues,” said one worker.
NYCHA’s plan to rebuild and repair buildings in 35 projects damaged by superstorm Sandy have been mired in delays and dubious contracts, The CITY reports. Following the destruction, FEMA pledged $3 billion for repairs and renovations. The work has only been completed in two developments.
Meet Barry LePatnera, a lawyer who is working to reign in construction costs as a consultant in New York City. A Commercial Observer profile says LePatnera works with developers, architects, and contractors to develop detailed building plans before construction starts and requires contractors to cover additional costs.
