Tag Archives: make the road ny

Community Asks Who Benefits from Staten Island Rezoning

Yesterday afternoon, members of Staten Island’s Housing Dignity Coalition (HDC) rallied on the steps of City Hall to demand deeper affordability for the proposed rezoning of Bay Street on the North Shore. Local residents and faith leaders explained why this rezoning will not serve the pressing needs of the community and called for a more inclusive plan that truly matches the incomes of families and households currently living in the area.

The proposed rezoning, which was unveiled in the spring of 2016, calls for converting a 14-block stretch of Bay Street from manufacturing to residential zoning, at a range of permitted densities and heights spanning 6 to 16 stories. The City estimates this will create close to 1,600 new apartments along Bay Street, 25% of which would be affordable for households making an average of 60% AMI, or $51,540 for a family of three under Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) Option 1.

But as Coalition members pointed out, close to half of households in Staten Island Community District 1 make below $50,000 and one third make below $35,000. These community members will not benefit from the affordable housing this rezoning would provide. Or as HDC Leader Pastor Janet Jones said, “We don’t need a 75/25 deal on the North Shore. We need deep affordability that considers a single mom with two kids that earns low wages.”

While the lowest income households will be excluded from the housing created under this rezoning plan, its negative impacts likely won’t pass them by. Coalition members spoke to the displacement concerns that this rezoning could help unleash – noting that new investments and development have the potential to change the housing market and drive lower-income and at-risk households out of the neighborhood – unless they are paired with strong tenant protections and the creation of deeply affordable units.

This call for greater protections and affordability is especially relevant in a rezoning like Bay Street, where the City wants to convert manufacturing land to residential. By allowing the creation of a substantial amount of new housing where it currently isn’t permitted at all, the City would create windfall profits for developers and landowners – all the more reason to ensure this rezoning does more to create deeper affordability and true benefit for the majority of the community. As several speakers noted, public land is one place to start. Right now, the rezoning proposes to give away four public sites to private developers, only two of which would see residential development, and neither of which would be 100% affordable. When it comes to what happens on these public sites, speakers at the rally asked, who decides and who benefits? The HDC wants a guarantee that they will be used for the greatest public good – not given away to private interests.

At the end of the rally, members of the HDC Executive Committee entered City Hall to deliver 600 petitions calling on Mayor de Blasio to change the rezoning proposal to ensure deeper affordability. This call from Staten Island echoes demands from rezoning neighborhoods throughout the city – from East New York to East Harlem to Jerome Avenue. They are being made for a simple reason: residents of these neighborhoods need more affordable housing and they understand that these rezonings, as proposed, are not the best way of getting it. This is why they will continue pushing their demands until the City listens. As the Coalition noted, “If the goal for Staten Island is a waterfront that looks pretty, then the City’s proposal will suffice. If the goal is a waterfront that looks pretty and that our families can afford, then we must push the City to do more.”

Christopher Walters, ANHD’s Rezoning Technical Assistance Coordinator

VICTORY: City Council to Pass Certificate of No Harassment Legislation

The Coalition Against Tenant Harassment is thrilled that Certificate of No Harassment (CONH) legislation passed in City Council today. An expansion of CONH beyond the Clinton Special District has been a goal in numerous community campaigns for decades, and our coalition in particular has organized and advocated for the past several years to make this program a reality.

Throughout New York City, far too many tenants face persistent harassment from landlords determined to drive them out in order to increase profits and deregulate affordable apartments. CONH will help to proactively prevent displacement by creating a strong disincentive for tenant harassment – essentially flipping the current incentive structure on its head. Where landlords have seen tenant harassment as a means to increase rents, the new CONH law will turn it into an obstacle to higher profits. And the simultaneous expansion of the definition of harassment in Intro 1721 will help to ensure that the real ways in which tenants experience harassment are acknowledged and counted in this and other programs and tools.

“In my community, too many tenants face harassment from landlords who want to push them out, renovate their apartments, and double the rent. In my building, where I have lived for 25 years, this is exactly what the landlord has done. This is why the Certificate of No Harassment is so important. This bill gives real voice to tenants and gives more weight to the complaints we make against our landlords,” said Maria Cortes, a member of Make the Road New York.

“Hard working people who are making the best with the lot they’ve been handed in life are working every day to make sure they cover the most important expenses in their household. But even so they are getting no repairs, and even living without basic services like heat and hot water. Hot water is a basic necessity for bathing and getting ready for work, or bathing after a long day, but people are going without because of deliberate landlord neglect. The Certificate of No Harassment will give us one more tool to hold our landlords accountable, and make sure tenants are able to organize for their rights,” said Sergio Cuevas, tenant leader & board member from the Northwest Bronx Community Clergy Coalition.

“As the leader of our housing team at the Fort Tryon Jewish Center, a member of Faith in New York, and a tenant who has experienced harassment myself, my community and I knew that we could not sit quietly and be complicit in the oppression and degradation of our neighbors so that we can enjoy a comfortable community. We will stand by our neighbors, and use the resources we have to help protect them. That’s why we started a petition to raise awareness in our own community about tenant harassment, found that it had wide support across faith and ethnic communities. We are excited to celebrate the passage of this bill and are dedicated to doing our part, knocking on doors, and doing what we all need to do to build the beloved city!” said Avi Garelick, housing team leader at Fort Tryon Jewish Center and member of Faith in New York.

We thank Council Member Brad Lander for tirelessly championing the Certificate of No Harassment legislation. We thank Council Member Jumaane Williams for his support and consistent commitment to tenants’ rights; Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito for her leadership; and all of the Council Members who co-sponsored the legislation, voted for it, and helped bring this crucial new protection to the tenants of New York City. We also appreciate the effort and attention HPD put into developing this legislation, and we look forward to working with them to successfully implement this new program.

This is a victory for the tenant movement, and for the thousands of New Yorkers who have fought and will continue to fight for the right to stay in their homes and communities.

For more information on the legislation, click here to read our explanation document.

Click here to read the full press release from Council Member Brad Lander’s office.