A new report describes the path to social housing in New York through 20 policy proposals, from overhauling the property tax code and abolishing the city’s tax lien sale to cracking down on landlord violations and boosting public funding for tenant organizing.
“During Sandy we saw evidence of how parks can be built to weather the worst impacts of storms. Areas that suffered less damage overall had infrastructure in place that served to alleviate some of the harsher impacts: facilities such as beaches, wetlands and parks which, if built right, can serve as a cushion for harsh weather conditions that might hit coastal and neighboring communities.”
Under current law, state and county prosecutors are bound by statutes of limitations and forced to rely on charges, like grand larceny, that do not take into account the magnitude of the crime, officials say.
“Hurricane Sandy damaged 10 percent of the city’s housing. In a city with a vacancy rate of 4.5 percent, even a temporary loss of the housing supply isn’t just a problem for those directly displaced: it tightens the market for everyone, making it harder and more expensive to find housing.”
The legislation directs the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-based Violence and the Department of Social Services to establish a new fund and dispense modest grants to survivors of domestic violence.
Though total enrollment in city schools fell by 3.2 percent, the number of homeless-identifying students increased by 3.3 percent. Those 104,000 students include 29,000 who spent time in shelters, 69,000 temporarily sharing housing with others, and approximately 5,500 who were unsheltered—living in cars, parks, or abandoned buildings.
“Often a proxy for racial, disability or family status discrimination, Source of Income (SOI) discrimination prevents voucher holders from accessing housing and undermines the strides that New York City has made investing in rental assistance.”
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
Superstorm Sandy spared the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, New York City’s most important food source. But a decade later, little has changed when it comes to storm resiliency at the low-lying markets, and a disaster could have a major impact for the city’s restaurants, shops and food pantries.
Residential rezonings, including one approved this summer for Edgemere, are poised to bring thousands of new apartments to the Rockaways over the next decade, but just a single hospital has served the peninsula since 2012. A new task force is being asked to create a roadmap for expanding local healthcare services, including a facility that offers trauma care.
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.
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