Government
Housing Events in NYC This Week: NYCHA Preservation Trust’s First Board Meeting
Mariam Hydara |
Housing and land use-related events taking place in the week ahead, as well as affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
Bronx
NYCHA Sees Improved Elevator Metrics, Despite Thousands of Outages a Month
Tatyana Turner |
While the number of NYCHA campuses that saw elevator outages between January and April of this year was the same as the year before, the total number of incidents—9,904—declined by more than 12 percent, and NYCHA’s response time for repairs improved.
Economy
City’s Construction Workers Navigate New Risks Posed by Wildfire Smog
Mary Cunningham |
“There are employers who are going to take away outside work when there’s risk, and they’re going to provide you with the appropriate mask,” said Hildalyn Colon Hernández of the New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE), a nonprofit that trains immigrants for jobs in construction. “But there’s also employers that are going to disregard all of these notices and keep people working outside.”
Government
Bill Looks to Set Standards for Emergency Shelters as City Opens 12th Migrant Relief Center
Daniel Parra and Jeanmarie Evelly |
A bill introduced in the City Council would establish “minimum standards” for HERRCs and respite centers that the city would have to meet, including that beds be at least three feet apart and that facilities have a certain number of bathrooms and showers per person.
Government
‘A Down Payment’: Budget Boost For Tenant Lawyers Falls Short Of Demands
Emma Whitford |
Lawyers who represent tenants facing eviction in housing court are poised to see millions of dollars in new funding in the coming year, yet far less than the roughly $350 million boost they’ve said is needed for the Right to Counsel program to live up to its name.
Economy
Subsidized Child Care Pilot for Undocumented Families Renewed in City Budget Deal
Daniel Parra |
The city pilot program called Promise NYC, which covered up to $700 a week in child care to undocumented children with low-income parents during the second half of 2023, will be continued and expanded in the city’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year, City Limits has learned.
Government
‘Policy Failure’: Audit Finds 3 Housing Placements From Months of Street Homeless Sweeps
Emma Whitford |
Of the 2,308 homeless New Yorkers present during the city’s encampment sweeps over more than eight months in 2022, only three people—about 0.1 percent—had landed in permanent housing placements as of January, according to an audit from Comptroller Brad Lander.
Bronx
Quiet Primary Day in NYC Draws Committed Voters
Mary Cunningham, Jeanmarie Evelly, Daniel Parra, Tatyana Turner, Emma Whitford and Adi Talwar |
Unofficial numbers released Sunday by the New York City Board of Elections (BOE) show just 44,611 people participated in early voting, held across nine days in every borough but Staten Island. The polls close at 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Health and Environment
City Limits’ Reporting Honored by Silurians Press Club
City Limits |
City Limits received Merit Awards in two categories, investigative and environmental journalism, for reporting that revealed substandard conditions and other problems in the city’s supportive housing network, and another story that mapped the neighborhoods with the most persistent heat and hot water complaints among tenants.
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: New York Lawmakers Need to Consider 421-a Replacement
Austin Celestin |
“421-a or any alternative’s inclusion in our toolbox to tackle the housing crisis is by no means a silver bullet, but its absence has already and will continue to hamstring our ability to respond. We cannot accept this if we want to solve our housing crisis.”
