The discovery of arsenic in the water supply at NYCHA’s Jacob Riis Houses is a scary reminder of how little control most people have over their taps. While most of the water in New York City apartment buildings is perfectly potable, older plumbing can leach toxins, especially lead, during the final stretch from street to sink.
“The dated, time-consuming bureaucratic system of meetings with social workers that lead to referrals, appointments and multiple screenings by various organizations must change. Homeless youth deserve timely and accurate information that gives them the best chance of locating the most suitable shelter.”
A new report from NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams details conditions he witnessed in public housing after visiting six NYCHA complexes earlier this year and speaking to tenants about mold and rodent infestations, leaks, broken fire exit doors, out-of-service elevators and heat and hot water outages. “I think folks sometimes don’t understand how bad those conditions are,” he told City Limits.
A federally funded pilot program and a study in parks both seek mitigation strategies for urban heat islands—areas that experience higher temperatures due to heat-absorbing infrastructure and lack of access to features like greenery and bodies of water.
“Area Median Income plays an integral role in determining affordability. But communities across the five boroughs faced with potential affordable housing development routinely ask, ‘affordable for whom?’ as lower-income communities are held to the economic median of wealthy suburbs outside of the city.”
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
“While states like New York emphasize supporting vulnerable women and children as a priority, there has been too little focus on the need to improve the child support system to do so—especially within family courts. Instead, these courts—which handle hundreds of thousands of cases per year—have been historically neglected.”
Brad Lander’s Basement Resident Protection Law would create a “basement board” to oversee the conversions and ensure residents of these apartments—called accessory dwelling units or ADUs—have access to tenants’ rights and basic safety protections. It comes a year after rains from Hurricane Ida killed 11 New Yorkers in basement units.
Strained for shelter space, the Adams administration confirmed it was exploring the possibility of using camp facilities “should they become necessary,” to house asylum seekers arriving from the Southern border. The city has relied on commercial hotels and other stopgap facilities to quickly add shelter capacity for decades, but camps would be a new sort of accommodation for families.
“Many homeless New Yorkers are working and could afford rent stabilized rents—yet landlords have been warehousing rent stabilized apartments.”
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.
