Opinion: For Our Children, Say ‘Yes’ to Housing

“Housing insecurity is directly correlated with negative impacts on the lifelong development and well-being of children, causing struggles in school and worse health outcomes, among many other long-term consequences.”

If we want our children—New York City’s next generation—to succeed, we must work towards securing a safe, affordable and permanent home for every child.

That’s because housing insecurity is directly correlated with negative impacts on the lifelong development and well-being of children, causing struggles in school and worse health outcomes, among many other long-term consequences. But the reality is we don’t have enough affordable housing options in the city to support attainable, livable homes for New York City families.

As a result, 22,000 children live in New York City homeless shelters—and their average length of stay is 437 days. Each one of those days for each one of those children might mean dealing with trauma related to near constant movement within the shelter system, disruption in school attendance, or struggles to develop vital social skills and friendships because of homelessness.

Many New York children who do have stable, affordable housing are stuck living in poor conditions that do not meet families’ needs because—as a result of a historically low rental-vacancy rate—it’s the only housing their family can afford. In fact, one in three families with children live in overcrowded housing, which is most common for Asian and Latino households. And some low-income community districts have rates where more than half of households live in units with maintenance complaints, ranging from heating and hot water to rodents and pests.

And for hundreds of thousands of more stably housed families in New York City, skyrocketing housing prices coupled with high childcare costs make it impossible for even middle-income families to afford meeting fundamental needs for their children. This is forcing many low- and middle-income families to leave the city. Our housing and affordability crisis is pushing out the families that make our cultural fabric so strong, that lead our workforce and drive the economy, that make New York City the incredibly special place that it is.

For the first time in more than half a century, City of Yes for Housing Opportunity will update New York City’s convoluted rules about where we can build housing. The updated zoning regulations will make it a little easier to build housing across the city, increasing the accessibility of housing and affordable housing. In total, City of Yes could add enough new housing to support 250,000 New Yorkers over the next 15 years—housing that could fundamentally improve the lives and livelihoods for tens of thousands of our city’s children.

City of Yes is an important solution—but it isn’t the only solution we should be advancing. Through our work co-convening the Family Homelessness Coalition, the Citizens’ Committee for Children is working with direct service providers, fellow advocates, and individuals that have experienced homelessness to encourage state and local action that not only improves shelter conditions but expedites access to permanent affordable housing. And for families at-risk of becoming homeless, we’re working to help ensure they can stay in their homes by expanding access to and increasing investments in housing vouchers, which are proven tools to prevent homelessness.

The health and well-being of our children must always be a first priority for our city. But if we’re going to follow through, we must address some of the hardest challenges our city’s children and their families face. Undoubtedly, housing and homelessness are hard issues to address and require bold leadership—which is why we’re thankful for Speaker Adrienne Adams and her continuous leadership on housing, including advocating for a comprehensive approach to our crisis.

To protect our children and enable our families to live and work in New York, we must capitalize on every opportunity to make our city and housing more affordable and more livable. The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity is a critical step in the right direction that we urge the City Council to pass.

Jennifer March is the executive director of the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York.