“This policy, while likely formed with good intent, is short-sighted and places more strain on a system that is close to breaking. It also shifts focus and continues to villainize individuals who need help, rather than providing the resources that they desperately need. This is a band-aid, meant to make the problem less visible, ignoring the real issues.”
The Senate and Assembly on Tuesday released their annual budget resolutions, responding to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $227 billion spending proposal unveiled last month. They rejected the bulk of Hochul’s strategy to increase housing production statewide, while entertaining eviction protections the governor has ducked.
Councilmembers are weighing a slate of bills to expand programs and resources that follow the model of social housing—deeply affordable homes built “for public good” rather than profit, what supporters say could help turn the tide in a city where increasing numbers of tenants are struggling to afford rent. But City Hall officials pushed back on some of the proposals, saying they could undermine Mayor Adams’ efforts to build new housing as quickly as possible.
“If Mayor Adams truly wants to make good on his promises to stem the homelessness crisis in the city and provide substantive mental health to the city’s youth, he must first make it easier, not harder, to access safe and affordable housing.”
“The city and state must stop relying on failed capitalist strategies when developing more housing, which is why I introduced a bill Thursday that would require the city to study the feasibility of creating a municipal social housing development agency.”
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
“Invoking environmental concerns to block construction is a classic page in the NIMBY playbook, but when suburbanites push back against dense, transit-oriented housing, they are not just hurting the people who urgently need housing in our city—they are hurting the climate for future generations of New Yorkers, too.”
Advocates are sounding the alarm over both Gov. Hochul and Mayor Adams’ spending proposals, which failed to include several flagship programs they’ve fought for in recent years as well as reductions to programs that provide English language, literacy and citizenship classes that immigrant New Yorkers rely on.
The length of time it takes NYCHA to rent out available apartments has climbed in recent years, one of many factors exacerbating the city’s affordable housing crisis, lawmakers say. “They just say it’s not ready,” said one resident currently living in a homeless shelter who has been waiting more than 10 months to move into the NYCHA unit she was approved for.
The nonprofit newsroom expands staff to support its in-depth reporting on New York City housing issues, and launches a new beat focused exclusively on NYCHA.
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
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