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Affordable Housing
New York is facing an affordable housing crisis. Last year alone, rental prices
increased by a record 8.3% while over 40% of renters in the City spent more
than a third of their income on rent. We must act now to ensure that
low- and middle- income families can continue to afford to live in our City.
The City Council has continued to work to protect existing affordable
housing and encourage the creation of more affordable units. This
year, we:
Changed the 421-a tax-benefit program to make it a
more effective tool for creating new affordable
housing; Passed laws requiring Mitchell-Lama
rentals and co-ops who use the J-51 tax breaks
to make building repairs to remain in the
Mitchell-Lama program for fifteen years, which
will preserve long-term affordability;
Will soon pass the Safe Housing Act, which will
ensure that New York City rent-stabilized
apartments are kept in livable condition;
Are preparing landmark legislation that will
protect tenants against harassment; and
Have proposed a $300 Renter’s Tax Credit
that would benefit 1.1 million working families.
Despite these efforts, in order to truly protect affordable
housing we need the State government in Albany to act.
On Wednesday, May 23, 2007, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00
p.m., a coalition of tenants, union members
and advocates will form a human chain around
Stuyvesant Town in order to send a message to
Albany that N ew York Is Our Home! We invite you
to join us as we call on Albany to protect
affordable housing for poor and working-class New
Yorkers. The rally will take place on 1st Avenue
between 14th and 23rd Streets in Manhattan.
Additionally, we urge you to attend the one of
the following Rent Guidelines Board public
hearings:
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 from
10:00AM-6:00PM at The Great
Hall at Cooper Union,
7 East 7th Street on corner of
3rd Ave. (Basement), New York,
NY 10003 Tuesday, June 19th,
2007 from 4:00PM-10:00PM,
LaGuardia Performing Arts Center,
31-10 Thomson Avenue (Use
entrance on Van Dam St., just
north of 47 Ave.), Long Island
City, NY 11101
The Rent Guidelines Board voted last week to
approve a rent increase between 2% and 4.5%
for one-year leases, and between 4% and 7.5%
for two-year leases. This public hearing is your
opportunity to speak to the members of the
Rent Guidelines Board and to let them know that
if rents continue to go up, then working families
will be completely forced out of the City.
We hope you will join us at the May 23rd rally
and at the Rent Guidelines Board meetings.
If you have any questions or would like to learn
more about the Council's efforts to
increase New Yorkers access to quality
affordable housing, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
Sincerely,
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Christine C. Quinn
Speaker
Eric Martin Dilan
Chair, Committee on Housing and Buildings
Daniel Garodnick
Council Member
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Rosie Mendez
Chair, Subcommittee on Public Housing
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