City of Yes Housing Testimony
Written Testimony I submitted to the New York City Council in October
As a New Yorker of three decades, I realize that I will eventually, and likely very soon, need to leave the city. Our city is increasingly unaffordable and unlivable. I do not think City of Yes Housing will change this.
I write independently of Queens Community Board 2 on which I serve. This is my opinion based on my experience living in Long Island City, one of nine NYC communities that has produced the majority of housing over the last few decades.
With the creation of all this housing LIC has become more unaffordable and terribly unlivable. My neighbors pushed out. Transit and parks are uncomfortably packed. Without expansion or the amenities people need. Schools cannot be built fast enough. Many streets are dirty and in disrepair. Not enough trees or green spaces. Limited investment to repair public housing. Small, local businesses and artists, the soul of our community, have left. LIC is a great place to live if you never leave your market-rate apartment building but it is terrible if you want to be an active member of a diverse, thriving community.
I do believe that the intention of City of Yes Housing is to help communities like LIC that are overwhelmed and literally underwater due to unchecked overdevelopment for the profit of developers. I appreciate that City of Yes Housing is based on the fact that most of NYC’s housing was built last century and that new housing should be created around transit. The problem is that these are not the only factors that should be considered, every community has unique concerns, certainly LIC does.
I also believe that City Planning put this plan forward to help with the affordable housing crisis although this plan is not explicitly for the creation of affordable housing. This is the fundamental flaw of City of Yes Housing. I do not think City of Yes Housing will succeed but instead be a blank check and free pass to developers to do more of the same that caused the uunaffordable housing crisis in the first place.
My frustration starts with our Mayor who has broken the public trust with not only his recent indictment but the way he has mismanaged the city during his term. I do not trust that he puts the interests of New Yorkers, his constituents whom he serves, first. This break of public trust makes it impossible for me to trust or support any policy he puts forth or supports.
I am also frustrated with special interest groups who call the affordable housing crisis one of supply and demand, ignoring the likelihood of rent fixing by big, monopolistic landlords colluding with each other. Perhaps City Council should start by studying and developing policy around rent price fixing. This is not a conspiracy theory, as prominent elected leaders and other local governments are currently considering policies on rent fixing.
Also, just because someone can pay market rate rent does not mean they can afford it. No one should be paying more than 30% of their salary for rent but I am sure that many do, just as I have.
As City of Yes Housing is not an affordable housing plan, there is no guarantee that new housing created will be affordable. City of Yes Housing should mandate 100% affordable. So that single women and working families, the backbone of our city, cannot afford to live here. And so our city will not be even more expensive, wealth segregated, and unlivable. Said as directly as I can, please consider that white men make more than everybody else. We should not be going back to a time when white male landowners have all the power.
Most housing in LIC was built in the current century with limited community planning and no investment in upgrading infrastructure to handle the increased density. Even now as we embark on so-called community planning in LIC we are focused on building 50, 75% market rate towers with huge tax breaks to developers.
City of Yes Housing is not paired with a plan to invest significantly in rebuilding and expanding infrastructure to meet the increased density in LIC and other communities over the last two decades or for future increased density across the city. Subway platforms and trains in LIC are packed. There needs to be more train stations, more trains, etc. This isn’t unique to LIC as subways are not unique to LIC. Increasing density by transit requires government investment in expanding transit. We also need investment in all public infrastructure to accommodate our needs now and in the future — starting with sewers, and parks, schools, hospitals, public housing, libraries, etc.
There must be investment to mitigate the existing climate change issues and new ones that will arise from increased density. Not just an environmental review process but a system that disallows any development that contributes to the climate crisis.
I’m disappointed that we are continuing to use zoning to solve a problem of long standing weak policy and limited investment (except for giveaways to developers.) City of Yes Housing, along with the current rezoning underway will likely make LIC and all communities more unaffordable and more unlivable.
We have been told before that this time will be different, so many of us who live in LIC and other communities are understandably skeptical that City of Yes Housing will help. Hard not to think of unintended consequences when you live in a community like LIC that is an unintended consequence of rezonings.
I want to see all levels of government work together to invest in a comprehensive, first-in-the-nation plan to build affordable housing, infrastructure, resiliency measures…communities (and create jobs). A plan for only affordable housing (overriding AMI) + infrastructure + resiliency to support it.
Note that I appreciate that City Planning listened to our frustrations over the issues of overdevelopment in LIC and advocacy for affordability and investment in infrastructure + resiliency. I am also appreciative that City Planning made key changes to some of the plan, including that infill part will not apply to NYCHA communities. I hope that this will be taken into account by City Council.
Thank you.
