NYC Rallies To Take Back Homes!

Overview

WHAT: Right to the City-NYC, a coalition of New York City community organizations, and elected officials will hold a press conference to release preliminary data from a city-wide count of vacant condominiums.  The research is the result of a city-wide canvass of 290 census tracts in 9 NYC Community Districts, conducted by RTTC members over the last three  months.  The group will also launch a new campaign urging the City to convert these vacant condos into deeply and permanently affordable housing for low-income New Yorkers.  Right to the City members will call attention to the proliferation of vacant luxury condos and stalled construction in low-income neighborhoods across the city at a time when NYC’s homeless rates are the highest in decades and low-income housing is increasingly unavailable.  
 
WHO:  Right to the City-NYC (membership below); Council members Melissa Mark Viverito; Leticia James; Maria del Carmen Arroyo and Assembly member Hakeem Jeffries
 
WHEN:  Tuesday, October 27, 2009
4:00PM – 6:00PM
 
WHERE:  Downtown Brooklyn, 286 Flatbush Ext (Corner of Fleet Street and Flatbush Ext.)
 
WHY:  During the housing boom, NYC saw the rapid development of luxury condominiums— many in neighborhoods where low-income people live.  Oftentimes, this type of development has led to gentrification and displacement of people that have lived in these communities for years.  Due to the current economic crisis, many of these luxury condominiums are now vacant, while others are stalled in construction. 
 
Amidst this new construction, the number of units that are affordable for low- to middle- income families has decreased precipitously--NYC has lost over 200,000 apartments that were affordable to low-income renters over the last eight years.  Consequently, as luxury units sit vacant, the need for affordable housing is more acute than ever.  City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the department of Housing Preservation and Development have already allocated $20 million to convert some condos into moderate-income housing through the Housing Asset Renewal program (HARP).  RTTC-NYC believes that HARP will not do enough to ease the housing crisis facing low-income New Yorkers because it will not create housing that is permanently or truly affordable for low-income people.

Download the flyer here.

Schedule

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 from 4-6 PM

Transportation

WHERE: Downtown Brooklyn, 286 Flatbush Ext (Corner of Fleet Street and Flatbush Ext.)

(right off Fulton Mall in Downtown Brooklyn)

2, 3, 4, 5 trains to NEVINS ST

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