Affordable For Who?

The Mayor's housing plan leaves behind the New York's most vulnerable: Under the current plan, over 1/3rd of NYC households are too poor to afford the Mayor's "low-income" housing. Fast-food worker and homecare worker will not be able to afford the vast majority of apartments under this plan, and because the plan does not include labor standards to protect good union jobs, the New Yorkers who build the Mayor's "affordable housing" won't be able to afford it! Too many families will be at risk of displacement and homelessness unless the city figures out a plan to create truly affordable housing. Join Real Affordability For All and other community activists on Tuesday, February 23rd at 10:30AM in City Hall Park to ask the Mayor, "affordable for who?"

Click here to RSVP to Real Affordability For All

One Size Does Not Fit All!

"Zoning for Quality & Affordability (ZQA) is a wholesale upzoning of the entire city, and will not guarantee either goal of affordability or quality. There is no panacea for NYC’s affordable housing crisis, and ZQA is not even a cure for its symptoms. Rather, it seems that ZQA is a concession to developers to sweeten Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH), the only part of this proposal which might actually provide “affordable” units. ZQA loosens the entire city’s existing zoning to allow greater density for market-rate development, under the guise of creating affordable units, which, as we all know, is optional... This upzoning amendment raises height limits and diminishes yard requirements across the city according to a mathematical nicety, without examining the built fabric of our city’s neighborhoods. Contextual zones came to fruition after years of effort by community-driven, carefully examined, neighborhood-specific studies. NYC thrives because of the diversity of its neighborhoods, yet this proposal’s approach will deal with each neighborhood as the same, with a one-size-fits-all approach."

Whether his heart is in the right place or not, the concessions Mayor de Blasio is making to the real estate industry in an effort to create what amounts to not enough affordable housing units, at a truly affordable rate, is incredibly troubling. The re-zoning and up-zoning will enable developers to reshape and rebrand neighborhoods, which will in turn skyrocket rents, making entire areas unaffordable to the average New Yorker.

The public hearing on Zoning for Quality & Affordability and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing is February 9th and February 10th (at 9:30AM both days). Join activists from across the five boroughs at City Hall (between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street) and tell the NYC City Council that New Yorkers deserve affordable housing without upzoning the entire city.

If you can't make the hearings, the Historic Districts Council and Greenwich Village Society For Historic

Preservation have made it easy to send letters to the entire City Council: HDC letter | GVSHP letter.

Abridged quote from the Historic Districts Council Statement to NYC City Council on ZQA/MIH.

You Can Fight City Hall

City Hall press conference on manufacturing and industrial zone land-use/redistricting.

Photo credit: Nancy Brous

Say No To The Status Quo

#SaveNYC lends its support to the argument against the May 6 "fact-finding" roundtable on small business, sponsored by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.  A grassroots movement dedicated to protecting and preserving the diversity and uniqueness of the urban fabric in New York City, #SaveNYC officially endorses the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (File #0402-2014) and rejects all other plans currently on the table.

No proposed legislation currently offered by city or state politicians will save or protect a single small business in New York City, with the exception of the SBJSA.  The status quo proposals being offered only provide non-binding negotiation and mediation, with one-year extensions before the tenant will be forced to move or close.  They leave business owners powerless without the basic commercial rights they need to negotiate fair lease terms and remain in business.  These are not solutions to the city’s small business crisis, but only ways of maintaining business as usual.

Between 1,000 and 1,200 small businesses close each month across all five boroughs due to dramatically increased rents and inequitable commercial lease processes.  The SBJSA is a fair, simple, and effective solution to restore economic equality.  The SBJSA will give commercial tenants ten-year leases, and protect them from rent gouging and unfair lease terms through mediation and binding arbitration.  This process takes into consideration the unique nature of every business and every business community, where the arbitrator’s decision is guided by strict criteria, and based upon a case by case basis to decide fair and reasonable lease terms.

Representing the voice of the people, #SaveNYC has attracted major media attention, from the New York Times to WNYC radio; gained thousands of members and thousands of signatures on a petition to pass the SBJSA; and gathered dozens of powerful photos and videos from everyday New Yorkers who demand strong, swift action from City Hall.  Although we are glad to see some much needed attention being paid to this issue, our hope is that the results of the upcoming roundtable will convince NYC Council Members and Mayor Bill de Blasio of what their constituents have been voicing — the alternative, the SBJSA is the only fair solution and should be brought to the table.  It’s time to listen to the voice of New York and give our small businesses and cultural institutions a fair deal—before it’s too late.