Public Employee Press


Creates and preserves affordable housing
Mayor's housing plan wins with union help

By MIKE LEE

After certain modifications, the New York City Council voted in support of Mayor Bill de Blasio's ambitious and innovative housing plan, which he presented in late 2015.

The City Council overwhelmingly approved the housing package, which included the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and Zoning for Quality and Affordibility rezoning plans. The proposals follow on the heels of other de Blasio policy changes, including a first-ever rent freeze for a million rent-regulated tenants. Also, the mayor intervened to ensure tenant protections in the recent sale of Manhattan's Peter Cooper Village/ Stuyvesant Town apartment complex.

The initiative is a clear break from the retrograde policies of previous mayors, and it requires private developers receiving tax breaks and state and federal subsidies to make a quarter of new housing units affordable for working families.

The plan will create and preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing while requiring developers to set aside below-market-rate units for new residential projects.

Also included in the package is a plan to encourage housing for lowincome retirees in New York City. Because one quarter of retired persons in the five boroughs make less than $11,000 a year, this new proposal is vital for thousands of at-risk senior citizens who struggle to maintain a home.

The union strongly backed the mayor's proposals, and advocacy and labor groups like AARP, the Hotel Trades Council and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union supported it also.

Speaking on DC 37's radio show, DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido added his voice in support of the mayor's aggressive housing plan.

"This plan has what we believe is necessary in order to create housing for the people we represent," Garrido said. "This plan does have key elements toward maintaining a permanent housing stock. I urge the City Council to vote for this plan."

In a statement after the council added modifications to the two zoning plans, the mayor said, "New York City is now on the verge of implementing the strongest, most progressive affordable housing policies in the nation. Years from now, we will look back on this as a watershed moment when we turned the tide to keep our city a place for everyone."

On March 23, DC 37 leaders and activists joined hundreds of housing activists and other supporters at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan to celebrate the victory.