“The reality is that we have a housing crisis, but the South Bronx cannot bear the burden of affordable housing on its own,” said Councilmember Rafael Salamanca, whose district produced the greatest number of affordable units last year and over the past decade. “We need all 51 council districts to do their fair share.”
Hundreds of tenants and brokers descended on City Hall Wednesday to debate legislation that would stop landlords from passing broker fees on to tenants.
The number of newly arrived immigrants now in the city’s care is around 64,000, down from more than 69,000 in mid-January—what City Hall has attributed in part to shelter deadlines. A bill in the City Council would end the controversial policy, which critics say has forced people into precarious situations: sleeping on the streets, on the floors of churches and in unsafe settings.
A lawsuit on behalf of tenants at risk of eviction highlights a population in the crosshairs of a policy fight between the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams.
The so-called Fair Housing Framework, sponsored by City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and passed unanimously by the Council Thursday, will task city agencies with creating a housing plan every five years that includes production targets for each of city’s 59 community districts—though stops short of mandating development.
The mayor has argued that the bills will be too costly, and that an expanded pool will make it harder for existing voucher holders in a city with too few low-cost apartments. But the Council has pushed back consistently, disputing the mayor’s cost estimate and accusing him of shortsightedness.
“In 2021, nearly 17 percent of all working-age New Yorkers with a disability were unemployed—more than double the pre-pandemic level. These disproportionately steep economic losses compound with structural inequities that led to pandemic-level unemployment for New Yorkers with disabilities long before COVID hit.”
To learn more about these new officials and their plans for their time in office, City Limits partnered with students from the Department of Journalism & Media Studies at CUNY’s Lehman College, who contacted their district representatives for audio interviews.
The Certificate of No Harassment (CONH) Program has forced owners of certain properties to prove they have not harassed tenants before they can receive DOB permits.
The 33rd District stretches along Brooklyn’s East River waterfront, from Greenpoint to Boerum Hill. It straddles an eclectic group of neighborhoods, including Brooklyn Heights, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and parts of Downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg, and Gowanus.
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.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
