For Your Phone: Affordable Housing Ringtone

"Starrett City and its 20,000 residents can't wait until the fall for the legislature to protect their homes. Their homes are set to be sold before the next session begins - and then they'll have nowhere to turn . . . We can't wait one minute longer. The Assembly has passed this important legislation, but we need the Senate and the Governor to put these bills on their agendas before they can become law. If Governor Spitzer and Senator Bruno do not act during this session, we will immediately lose 6,000 affordable apartments and thousands more in other Mitchell-Lama buildings . . . There are only two possibilities - either we pass these vital reforms, or thousands of the voters who believed we would change New York for the better will be pushed out of their homes."

- Assemblyman Darryl C. Towns, chair of the Assembly's Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus

The state legislative session ended with the Republican-controlled State Senate refusing to take action to protect affordable housing, even though thousands of units of affordable housing are going to be lost this summer without Senate action.

New York Is Our Home made a trip to Albany during the legislative session to demand that Governor Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Bruno pass A795, the Save Starrett City bill, and A352. The Assembly Housing Committee and the Assembly Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus joined with us. So what was our reception in the Senate?

Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno flat out refused to meet with us.

That's a disgrace. With rents the way they are, Joe Bruno and his Senate Republican majority ought to be ashamed. And we're going to make sure everyone knows it.

First, tell your State Senators to pass affordable housing legislation.

Then download the New York Is Our Home "Shame on Bruno" ringtone for your phone.

When Bruno wouldn't meet with us in Albany, we protested outside of his office. Our chant then was "Shame on Bruno." Now we've turned that chant into a ringtone for your phone so you can put the pressure on. Here's the original ringtone and the remix version. When someone asks you what your ringtone is, explain how the Senate Republicans and Joe Bruno are getting rid of affordable housing through their inaction. If enough people download the ringtone then word will spread to your friends and to their friends, and we can reach enough people to force action to protect affordable housing.

If you want to know more, here is a detailed description of what New York Is Our Home stands for and here is the Losing Ground report that documents the housing affordability crisis.

One last thing: if you're on MySpace, add the WFP as a friend.

What Kind Of Map Do You Want?

After last week's successful Affordable Housing Rally, New York Is Our Home launched a project to create a citywide map of rent hikes. Almost 100 people have taken the survey, which means there are enough responses to create the map. But first, you have the chance to weigh in on how you want to use the map.



Once you vote, ask your friends to take the survey.

7,000 Came

The Hands Around Stuy Town Rally yesterday was a big success. Here's some of the coverage:

• Ed Ott Gets Going on Affordable Housing [Politicker]
• Hands Across the East Village [Daily Intelligencer]
• Hands Across the Complex [Empire Zone]
• Heading to Stuy Town Today? Bring Purell [Curbed]
• 10,000 Expected at Affordable Housing Rally [The Real Estate]
• WFP Turns Up The Heat On Affordable Housing [Daily Politics]
  

Head over to NewYorkIsOurHome.org for more.

Today is the Day

The Affordable Housing Rally is finally here! We'll rally for affordable housing at Stuy Town this Wednesday, May 23rd, at 5pm. Turnout is so strong that we're expecting 7,000 people at the rally - 1,000 more than we thought a week ago!

Come meet us at

Avenue C between 16th and 17th Street

As part of the rally, we're asking for your help to launch a new project to map rent increases in New York City. Fill out our online monthly rent increase survey with your address and recent monthly rent history. The result will be an interactive map at NewYorkIsOurHome.org charting how individual rents have risen in recent years and will collectively show areas of dramatic rent increases.

Take the survey today!

7,000 and Counting

The New York Is Our Home! coalition is closing in on 100 groups. And with all those groups working to turn people out for tomorrow's Hands Around Stuy Town Rally, there are now over 7,000 people coming.

Before you leave work, download the flyer for the rally (pdf), print it out, make copies, and then flyer your building tonight when you go home. This last minute push to remind your neighbors about the rally will help boost turnout.

See you tomorrow!

Next Week We Rally

Next week, you will be able to meet 6,000 other New Yorkers who care about affordable housing and join together to do something about it. Wednesday, May 23rd, is the day 6,000 of us join Hands Around Stuy Town.

RSVP today!

We're expecting the attention and excitement of the rally will bring new people to the New York Is Our Home web site to find out more. So we're planning now for ways to get all those people involved. It can be serious or it can be fun, but it needs to send the message that New York Is Our Home!

Here are a couple of our ideas. Vote for which one you like best, or post your own idea in the comments.

Hands Around Stuy Town : 12 Days To Go

We're now less than two weeks away from the Hands Around Stuy Town Affordable Housing Rally.

Momentum is building for the rally. Borough Meetings in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan were high energy and well attended.

May 23rd will be even bigger. Over 80 groups are on the phones calling their members to bring 6,000 people to the rally. And 70 people have RSVPed online.

We're expecting the attention and excitement of the rally to send a wave of people to the web site, and we're looking for ways to get those people involved. It can be serious or it can be fun, but it needs to send the message that New York Is Our Home!

Here are a couple of our ideas. Vote for which one you like best, or post your own idea in the comments.

Grassroots Action on Affordable Housing

A shout out to Jason, who sent email in support of affordable housing legislation we support, A795, and heard back from Assemblymember Brodsky on the bill (Brodsky supports it). Let us know if you've heard back from your Assemblymember.

RSVP for the May 23rd Affordable Housing Rally and get involved!

Save the Date, May 23rd Affordable Housing Rally

Always complaining about the cost of housing in New York? Do something about it. An unprecedented coalition including the Working Families Party, labor unions, and nearly every housing organization in New York City has united to form New York is Our Home.

We're launching a massive, grassroots campaign to break the logjam in Albany and protect our homes. And we're kicking things off with a rally and march at Stuy Town in Manhattan on May 23rd.

We're holding the rally at Stuy Town, but it's a rally for everyone in New York City. It's a rally about the threat to Starrett City. It's about the nearly 1.5 million existing affordable units we're at risk of losing. It's about what's happening to housing prices all over New York City and the rising price of housing that we're all struggling with.

Will New York City be taken over by luxury condos? New York Is Our Home believes in a New York City in which working families have just as much right to live as hedge fund managers. This is your chance to stand up and be counted.

Send the message that New York Is Our Home! RSVP today!

What: "Hands Around Stuy Town" Affordable Housing March and Rally.

Why: Because rent is out of control, and New York Is Our Home!

When: Wednesday, May 23rd, at 5pm sharp

Where: Stuyvesant Town between 14th and 23rd Street on 1st Avenue in Manhattan

Who: You and 6,000 other New Yorkers who care about affordable housing and are willing to stand up and be counted.

How: RSVP today!

Queens Borough Meeting

Last night a diverse coalition of tenants and affordable housing advocates met at Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens as part of the Queens Affordable Housing Borough Meeting. Marilyn Charles captured the mood of the crowd with her story: "I have lived in Queens for over 30 years. As a longtime resident, I fear the impact that bad rent laws and sky-high rents are having on me and my community. We need an affordable place to live." The New York is Our Home citywide campaign is organizing tenants to fight to preserve affordable housing in New York by changing unfair rent regulation laws. Marilyn's story is already to common. From 2002 to 2005, rents increased citywide by 10 percent. And if we don't act now, it will become even more common. Over the next ten years, the City will lose an estimated 300,000 affordable apartments. There's a looming exodus of working families from New York City. The Queens Borough Meeting was one in a series of meetings happening across the city, all leading up to a massive rally May 23rd expected to draw thousands of New Yorkers that will highlight these troubling trends. The May 23rd rally is at the Stuyvesant Town public housing development in Manhattan. Rally participants will demand protections for the rapidly dwindling City supply of affordable housing. I'll give the last word to Julie Miles of Housing Here & Now, Director of the New York Is Our Home Campaign: "Securing the hundreds of thousands of affordable units that we are losing is the most important action government leaders can take to solve the affordable housing crisis."

Affordable Housing Borough Meetings Happening Now

Queens Affordable Housing Borough Meeting details Wednesday, April 25 - Tonight! 6:30pm Queens Borough Hall in Room 213, 120-55 Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens Meeting in Spanish and English Tenants, affordable housing advocates, clergy, Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall, Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Assemblyman Jose Peralta and Councilman Joseph Addabbo are meeting tonight as part of the Queens Affordable Housing Borough Meeting. We'll talk about increasing rents and the decreasing number of available affordable apartments and discuss ways to preserve affordable housing in New York by changing unfair rent regulation laws. Tonight's Queens Borough Meeting is part of a series of Affordable Housing Borough Meetings going on now. Over 200 people came to the Bronx Affordable Housing Borough Meeting last week. I've posted pictures from the meeting to the right and on flickr. If you've got pictures of your own, share them with everyone by posting them on flickr and tagging them "NewYorkIsOurHome" Some of the groups that came to the Bronx Borough Meeting include the Working Families Party, CASA, NWBCCC, Tenants & Neighbors, CVH, NYCAHN, ACORN, CB #4, Sheridan Ave Coalition, Twin Parks TA, MOM, Bronx Pentecostal Food Pantry, Zion Faith D.L.U., Concourse Village Inc. Mitchell Lama Residents, POTS, 1889 Sedgwick Ave TA, BHNCC, PTH, NIDC, Picture the Homeless, RAIN, NYC Labor Chorus, Skyview TA, Youth CAHN, UHAB, Nos Quedamos, CB #2, Housing Council Pct, Soundview Senior Center, United We Stand Tenant Association, South Bronx Action Group, Janel Towers TA, and the National Alliance of HUD tenants: Low Income Housing Coalition. Elected officials in attendance included NYC Councilmember Joel Rivera, NY State Senator Jose Serrano and staff from Assemblymember Jose Rivera's office, Public Advocate Betsey Gotbaum's office, Assemblymember Aurelia Greene's office, NYC Councilmember Anabel Palma's office and Councilmember Maria Carmen del Arroyo's office. There are three more upcoming Borough Meetings, all leading up to a May 23rd "Hands Around Stuy-Town" rally where thousands of New Yorkers will demand protections for New York City's rapidly dwindling supply of affordable housing. Which Borough Meeting are you coming to?

Affordable Housing in Westchester County

From Lower Hudson Online:

Using federal subsidies and state programs like Mitchell-Lama, developers built large complexes around New York, some with thousands of units in New York City and perhaps a few hundred in places like Ossining, Greenburgh, Mount Vernon and Yonkers.

But those subsidy programs had 20-, 30- or 40-year lifespans and, for several years now, buildings around Westchester County have been hitting the expiration dates.
. . .
Claremont Gardens in Ossining is raising rents to market level as tenants move out.

Claremont tenants such as Robert Smith, 59, a retired postal worker, are already feeling the effects. His rent went from $600 to $735 a month.

"I can afford the rent, but I can't afford it going higher," Smith said.

Thousands of units in Westchester have already converted to market rates, and many more buildings in the coming years will reach the end of their affordability programs, throwing their tenants into uncertainty over the future of their homes.

Thomas McGrath of CPC Resources, an affordable-housing developer, has said that almost 4,000 units in some 25 complexes in the county could be taken out of subsidy programs designed to keep them affordable for low- and moderate-income people in the next several years. In New York City, the sale of the middle-income enclave of Stuyvesant Town and the proposed sale of Starrett City in Brooklyn, each with thousands of units, sparked huge controversy that led the federal government to reject the initial Starrett deal. Without the drama of one huge complex, Westchester faces the same questions 50 or 100 units at a time in buildings around the county.

"We need more than what's currently available and yet we're losing what we have currently available," said Pepi Powell, a tenant activist in Ossining and Peekskill.

Tell your Assemblymember to be part of the solution and pass the "Save Starrett City Law", Assembly Bill 795.

What You Can Do: Assembly Bill 795

Will working families be able to live in New York City or will we be overwhelmed by luxury condos? If you live in New York City, you care about the answer to that question. The proposal to buy Starrett City and turn it into luxury condos has thrown that into stark relief, and given us momentum for a larger fight over affordable housing.

The City of New York has committed to create 94,000 new affordable units and preserve 71,000 existing units. But even with that commitment, we're losing our existing affordable housing faster than we're building new affordable housing. And nearly 1.5 million existing affordable units are still at risk. We need to do more.

Tell your Assemblymember to be part of the solution and pass the "Save Starrett City Law", Assembly Bill 795.

Save the Date: Affordable Housing Borough Meetings

Millions of New Yorkers cannot afford a decent place to live. The most recent City data shows that 26% of New York City renters pay at least half of their income for rent. Thousands of affordable units in Mitchell-Lama, Section 8, and public housing are being lost every year, and hundreds of thousands of rent-stabilized apartments are decontrolled when they hit the $2000 rent level.

I've been blogging about Starrett City because that fight is a high profile example of the affordable housing fights going on all over New York. What the Starrett City fight does, since it's so big and so many people live there, is focus attention and light a fire under our elected officials that we need to act to increase the housing covered by rent regulations and protect the affordable housing we have now.

An unprecedented coalition including the Working Families Party, labor unions, and nearly every housing organization in New York City have joined forces to do just that. We'll be hosting Borough Planning Meetings across the city starting later this month, all leading up to a massive affordable housing rally on May 23 at Stuyvesant Town.

You're invited: find the closest Affordable Housing Borough Meeting and mark it down on your calendar. Let's do all we can to make sure working families can afford to stay in New York.

Starrett City Still Under Siege

As predicted, past rejections haven't stopped Clipper Equities and David Bistricer from putting a new proposal on the table to buy Starrett City and turn it into luxury condos.

First, a quick recap: The Clipper Equities development group led by David Bistricer proposed buying Starrett City, home to 14,000 people, for $1.3 billion. Analysts agree that a price tag that high means Bistricer intends to convert Starrett City to luxury condos. The proposed sale quickly became a proxy fight over affordable housing, and was derailed by an outpouring of community outrage. More detail here.

Bistricer's latest proposal shamelessly calls for tens of millions of dollars in new public subsidies to Clipper Equities. In return, they'll convert Starrett City to luxury condos slowly instead of doing it right away.

Governor Spitzer and Senator Schumer both came out against Bistricer's new proposal to purchase Starrett City. From the New York Times:

Mr. Bistricer's latest plan to buy Starrett City for $1.3 billion has already received a chilly reception from Governor Spitzer, who spoke out in support of the tenants early on. In a letter last night to the Bistricer group, Mr. Spitzer's housing commissioner, Deborah Van Amerongen, said the plan "failed to adequately ensure that Starrett City would be preserved as viable affordable housing in the future, and would be unworkable under existing statutory law."
. . .
Senator Charles E. Schumer also sent Mr. Bistricer a letter this week saying he had "serious concerns" that the proposal "shifts a significant burden to the federal government, while not doing enough to protect the middle-class character of the development."
. . .
"I will do anything I can to keep it middle class," Mr. Schumer said of Starrett City. "But I'm not going to fight for more subsidies so the seller can make a bigger profit."

This is a major victory, but it's still a temporary one. The proposed sale of Starrett City and the sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village needs to light a fire under city and state officials to protect our existing affordable housing.

Starrett City won't be out of the woods until the New York State Legislature and Governor Spitzer pass legislation to keep Starrett City rent stabilized and repeal vacancy decontrol. That will be a lasting victory for Starrett City and affordable housing throughout New York. Until then, Starrett City residents have to live with the threat of eviction hanging over their heads.

Sign the petition.

(crossposted at New York Is Our Home!)

Real Estate Prices Rising

The April release of quarterly real estate data shows the New York City real estate market is getting less affordable. From a New York Times article focused on Manhattan and Brooklyn (via Gothamist):

the average price of an apartment in Manhattan rose to $1.22 million in the first quarter of this year, up from $1.14 million in the last quarter of 2006
. . .
Buyers also seemed more willing to pay higher prices for new condominiums in Brooklyn. Corcoran said the average overall prices in Brooklyn rose 22 percent, to $628,000 in the first quarter of this year from $514,000 in the first quarter of 2006.

And prices are only going up:

"In the second quarter, I think we're going to see more appreciation because of the high level of activity" early this year, said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, an appraisal firm.
. . .
"People were holding back a little bit more a year ago,” said Hall Wilkie, president of Brown Harris Stevens, though he added, "Anybody who was holding back, isn't."

But there's also an increasing willingness to take on and solve this problem. Witness yesterday's conference by the Drum Major Institute asking, "Is New York City still a middle-class town?" Alongside discussion by a number of mayoral candidates (here and here), DMI released a survey entitled Saving Our Middle Class. From their report:

"Affordable rent" tops the list of the middle class's biggest challenges. Two out of three respondents describe affordable rent as one of the top three middle-class concerns in the city and it is the only one to get a majority response.
. . .
New York City leaders agree: building more government-funded affordable housing and increasing funding for k-12 education would be very effective at strengthening and expanding the city’s middle class.

And there's this blog post on Room 8 by State Senator Serrano on reforming the 421a tax exemption:

The 421a tax exemption looms somewhere on the Albany horizon, and it's not yet getting the attention it deserves.

Created in the 1970s to fuel development in a depressed city, the exemption program has been periodically reformed to help protect affordable housing in a now booming market.
. . .
I believe there is room for improvement in the city proposal

You can get involved. Find the Affordable Housing Borough Meeting nearest you.

And read more about what New York Is Our Home! would like to see happen.

(crossposted at New York Is Our Home!)

Bistricer Back From the Dead?

We called it a temporary victory, and now David Bistricer and Clipper Equities LLC are trying to resurrect their proposal to buy Starrett City and turn it into luxury condos. From Crain's (no link):

Starrett City bidder makes last-ditch pitch
Clipper says plan ensures low rents; foes want Mitchell-Lama protected

The prospective buyer of Starrett City is making a last-ditch effort to save its bid for the Brooklyn housing complex . . .

But housing officials and politicians - many of whom came under fire for failing to block the recent $5 billion sale of affordable housing complexes Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village - have condemned the deal. They blast Mr. Bistricer's record, citing thousands of violations at his other properties. They also say the price tag, which amounts to $221,000 a unit, makes no economic sense unless the buildings are turned into luxury residences.

"It will be impossible for someone paying this price not to convert the units into high-priced rentals or ritzy condominiums," Sen. Charles Schumer observed in a statement recently.

More as the situation develops.

Sign the petition.

Technorati tags: Working Families Party | Affordable Housing

A Van Down By The River

Mixing funny and depressing, here's a Gothamist post about one man's affordable housing alternative - namely living in a van:

When you realize that the $1300 you're forking over for rent results in an apartment the size of a shoebox, where are you to turn? In the case of a Brooklyn man, you buy a bread truck.

Of course, even that wasn't entirely affordable:

They were unable to settle in Manhattan because it was too difficult to find parking.

So, basically, a guy living in a parking space got priced out of Manhattan.

Oy.

Sign the petition.

Technorati tags: Working Families Party | Affordable Housing

A Temporary Victory for Affordable Housing

We won a temporary victory last week when U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alfonso Jackson rejected the proposed sale of Starrett City to David Bistricer and Clipper Equities LLC. From their proposal to pay almost a quarter of a million dollars per apartment, it was no secret that Bistricer and Clipper Equities planned to make money on the deal by throwing out the working families that live in Starrett City now and converting their homes to luxury condos.

Done enjoying the moment? Good, because one shot victories won't cut it, and there's still a lot of work in front of us. We need a long term plan to protect affordable housing in New York.

Making that point, the current owners of Starrett City are threatening to do an end run around the tenants and take Starrett City out of federal and state affordable housing programs. Bistricer might be out of the picture, but his plan lives on. From the New York Times:

The current owners, Starrett City Associates, are likely to leave the federal and state housing programs, much as Mr. Bistricer would do, according to real estate executives.

If we're going to secure New York's affordable housing, we need to start with the state legislature passing the Save Starrett City Law, which would protect nearly 65,000 Mitchell-Lama apartments, including those at Starrett City. The problem's getting worse, but it's still a problem we can solve.

If you haven't already, sign the Working Families petition for Affordable Housing.

More soon.

Technorati tags: Working Families Party | Affordable Housing

State Legislature Takes on Affordable Housing

The fight for Starrett City - a proxy in the larger fight over affordable housing - is expanding to a second stage as state legislators propose the "Save Starrett City Law", which would protect nearly 65,000 apartments by closing a loophole that lets building owners benefit from affordable housing programs but then stop providing affordable housing.

The state's Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program exchanges tax-exempt financing for affordable housing. Currently, if a building was built after 1973 and the owners leave Mitchell-Lama or Section 8 they're not subject to rent stabilization laws. The Save Starrett City Law would mean building owners who leave Mitchell-Lama or Section 8 affordable housing programs would still have to follow rent stabilization laws.

Working Families supports the Save Starrett City Law. Here's Executive Director Dan Cantor quoted in a New York Times article:

"Starrett City represents everything that we really think this city should be about . . . It's called the 'Save Starrett City Law,' but it really should be called the 'Save New York City Law.'"

Look for more this week on this issue and ways for you to get involved.

Technorati tags: Working Families Party | Affordable Housing