Seven workers’ organizations have compiled a database on wage theft during the pandemic totaling $130.5 million owed to workers. The preliminary data from just seven groups dwarfs the nearly $3 million Gov. Kathy Hochul boasted of the state having recovered for workers last year. A preliminary version of this data has been shared with City Limits.
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: Governor Hochul’s State of Housing
Jumaane Williams |
“As Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to deliver the speech that could define her first full term, she has an opportunity to set a path of real progress on housing. But she will have to break the patterns of past leadership—and her own first year in office.”
Government
Gas Stoves Contribute to Nearly 19% of NY’s Child Asthma Cases, Analysis Estimates
Jeanmarie Evelly |
Advocates say the findings add new urgency to the state’s efforts to transition its energy sources away from fossil fuels, and as environmental groups renew calls for state lawmakers to pass legislation that would ban gas hookups in new construction statewide.
Government
NYC Housing Calendar, Jan. 5-11
Jeanmarie Evelly |
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
Economy
New York City, 2022: A Year in Photos
Jeanmarie Evelly and Adi Talwar |
As 2022 comes to a close, City Limits looks back at images that defined some of New York City’s biggest news stories and most pressing policy issues.
Health and Environment
City Limits’ Most-Read Housing Stories in 2022
Jeanmarie Evelly, Mariam Hydara and David Brand |
It’s been an eventful year in New York City housing. Mayor Eric Adams launched a new plan for housing production and a controversial approach to street homelessness. At the same time, the city’s homeless shelter population reached historic highs this year, fueled in part by an increase in migrants from the southern border and by soaring rent costs, including the biggest price hike for rent-stabilized apartments in nearly a decade.
Government
As NYC’s Food Stamp Crisis Worsens, State Agency Withholds Relief
David Brand |
Over half of New York City food stamp applicants are forced to wait for their benefits to arrive as staff at the understaffed Human Resources Administration fail to keep pace with demand. The state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance has declined to issue a waiver that would relieve the backlog.
Politics & Government
Q&A: Journalist Yevgenia Albats on Curiosity and Freedom of the Press
City Limits |
Yevgenia Albats, a Russian investigative reporter who is currently the Distinguished Journalist in Residence at the NYU Jordan Center, recently spoke to City Limits’ youth reporting interns about what it’s like to be a journalist in a country that does not have a free press.
Economy
NYCHA Blames Dreary Financial Outlook on $454 Million in Unpaid Pandemic Rent
Jeanmarie Evelly and David Brand |
More than 73,000 NYCHA households are behind on rent, what officials say will force the public housing authority to draw from operating reserves and make other cuts in the year ahead—and could potentially hamper its repair plans. Meanwhile, the state’s already-exhausted Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to aid New Yorkers in rent arrears is unlikely to reach NYCHA.
Government
Over Half of NYC’s Food Stamp Applicants Left Waiting as Staffing Shortage Deepens
David Brand and Mariam Hydara |
The Human Resources Administration (HRA) is promptly processing just 46.3 percent of applications for SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps, the agency told councilmembers at a committee hearing on the impact and cause of the bureaucratic delays.
Government
¿En qué va la demanda de los inmigrantes que fueron trasladados a la isla de Martha’s Vineyard?
Daniel Parra |
El pasado 29 de noviembre, Lawyers for Civil Rights presentó una enmienda a la demanda que añade como demandados a la compañía de aviones que transportó a los inmigrantes (Vertol Systems Company, Inc.) a su director general, al “zar de la seguridad pública” de Florida Larry Keefe, al jefe de gabinete del gobernador DeSantis, y a Perla Huerta, la principal reclutadora de inmigrantes en el terreno.