The New York City Council Progressive Caucus, along with Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and many housing advocates, on Monday called for the city to come up with $2 billion to build permanently affordable housing over the next four years.
Lander, along with Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD), Housing Justice for All, New York City Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI), the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY (PSC-CUNY), CIR-SEIU, UAW-9A, United Federation of Teachers (UFT), and dozens of grassroots housing organizations on Monday launched a "Homes Now, Homes for Generations" campaign, which asks money to be allocated in the fiscal 2025 year budget currently being negotiated, according to a press release.
The group wants funds to be funnelled through to the Open Door program, run by the Department of Housing & Preservation Development. The program which currently sees about $100 million of funding per year, should be increased by four times, the group said, to increase homeownership opportunities for an additional 3,500 New York families.
In addition, the group wants to revive HPD's Neighborhood Pillar's program, a stalled housing mechanism that provides loans and tax exemptions to mission-driven organizations so they can can rehabilitate and maintain rent-stabilized units at risk of deregulation. Increased funding would scale this program back up to its original vision from 2018, which is to preserve nearly 7000 rent-stabilized units.
"Working class and people of color are being squeezed out of New York because there isn't enough affordable housing," said Brooklyn Council Member and Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Sandy Nurse. "Despite billions in subsidies and exemptions over the last few decades, the private market has failed to deliver on its affordable housing promises and it is clear that the City must put more resources into creating affordable housing. Today's launch of the Homes Now, Homes for Generations campaign is not only a positive vision for community-controlled and permanently affordable housing – it is also a rejection of the Mayor's cruel austerity budget games."
