Tag Archives: christine quinn

by | May 21, 2013 · 4:56 pm

New Yorkers March to Denounce LGBTQ Hate Crimes

Photo by Macey Foronda. Featured on BuzzFeed

Yesterday, a rally was held in the West Village to honor Mark Carson who was murdered Friday evening as a result of a hate crime. While walking through the West Village with a friend, Carson was confronted by Elliot Morales.  Morales made homophobic remarks such as, “Look at these faggots” and “What are you, gay wrestlers?” Despite trying to walk away and avoid an altercation, Morales followed the two men, pulled out his .38-caliber revolver and shot Carson. He died shortly after.

To show respect for Carson and denounce the recent hate crime against the queer community, thousands of LGBTQ folk and allies gathered in the West Village and marched from the steps of The Center to the site of the shooting. Chanting “We’re here, we’re queer!” and “Homophobia has got to go!” the voice of the queer community echoed down Greenwich Avenue and up through 6th Avenue. Speaker Christine Quinn, the first openly gay Speaker of the New York City Council, and Edie Windsor, the plaintiff of the Supreme Court same-sex marriage case, joined the march. After a slew of violent hate crimes within the past month, this march reestablished the visibility and, in turn, power of the queer community in New York City.

The West Village has been portrayed as a haven for queer folks. Home of the Stonewall Inn and the inception of the gay liberation movement, LGBTQ folk from across the country have come to the West Village either seeking refuge from hate crimes, in search of community, or to pay tribute to those who have fought to stop violence. Unfortunately, there has been a resurgence of hate crimes in the West Village. According to the Anti-Violence Project (AVP), six hate crimes against LGBTQ folk have been reported within the past week in New York City. The following are a list of three incidents reported by the New Yorker:

… a gay man and his partner were beaten up outside Madison Square Garden after a Knicks game, another gay man was attacked and beaten on Christopher Street, and a gay couple was beaten after leaving a pool hall on West Thirty-second Street.

With Pride month fast approaching, these weeks serve as a point of reflection to assess how much progress has actually been made in terms of LGBTQ rights and safety in our country. One of the signs held at yesterday’s protest read, “Marriage means nothing if we are being gunned down.” While much emphasis has been placed on the Federal Supreme Court ruling on the Marriage Equality Act, much more needs to be done to stop homophobic prejudice, discrimination, and violence in New York City and throughout the country.

While it might appear as if this rally has little to do with our work in housing and organizing, look again. As we’ve discussed before on the blog, discrimination in housing against LGBTQ folks is alive and well in our country and our city.  Through organizing, we need to ensure that everyone who lives in our city feels secure enough in demanding that their rights be met- whether it’s housing conditions, marriage, or the right to walk down the street in safety. We at UHAB admire the powerful organizing that has taken place in response to the recent hate-crimes, and plan to support that organizing effort as long as it takes.

If you or someone you know has experienced a homophobic hate crime, please contact the Anti-Violence Project at (212) 714-1141.

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by | April 12, 2013 · 3:07 pm

Friday News Round-up!

It’s Friday! Here is some of the most relevant housing news from this week:

  1. On Wednesday, Brian Lehrer moderated a mayoral forum on housing policy at NYU’s Furman Center. The forum gave candidates a chance to comment on the city’s current housing policies, as well as offer suggestions for the future. All of the candidates agreed that New York City’s affordable housing stock is inadequate.  In an effort to change this reality, Speaker Quinn wants to create a fund to purchase distressed  foreclosed properties in bulk, while Advocate Bill de Blasio and Bill Thompson want to leverage pension funds and other city capital to create more affordable housing.  And, Comptroller John Liu wants to utilize his “Capital Acceleration Plan,” which would identify excess budgeting in long term plans, eliminate it, and use the surplus to create more affordable housing. To listen to the full forum, check out the audio here. 
  2. This week, President Obama released his budget proposal for 2014. According to the Washington Post, the President allocated $47.6B to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is a 6 percent increase from 2013. Of those funds, $37.4 will provide rental assistance to 4.7M low-income families and $2.4 will provide 10,000 new vouchers for veterans. While the increased budget will subsidize many housing costs, Secretary Sean Donovan fears that the allotted funding will not cover the administrative costs of public housing authorities. With insufficient funding, we look to local government to think creatively about recuperating these costs. As we know, NYCHA controversially plans to solve this problem through land leasing their parking lots to luxury developers.
  3. Today, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) released a report entitled, “Modernizing the Fair Housing Act for the 21st Century.” Currently, the Fair Housing Act protects against discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, family status, and religion. However, there are some glaring loopholes — the law does not protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, income status or martial status (as relating to queer partners).  The NFHA report makes visible the inadequate protections in the Fair Housing Act and advocates that lawmakers revise the law to reflect the current needs of its citizens.
  4. On Monday, the City Planning Commission (CPC) approved the Bloomberg administration’s microunit proposal: aDAPT NYC. The plan details the building of micro-units, or tiny apartments, as a means of expanding the affordable housing stock. However, the program requires rezoning in order to be built, and rezoning requires public approval. In the coming weeks there will be a public referendum on the plan. If given the go-ahead from the community as well as the city council, this program would set the precedent for building tiny apartments in NYC. Stay tuned as this story unfolds!
  5. Okay, so forgive us, this happened a few weeks ago. But its a great report and we want to give it the thumbs up it deserves: CASA members and the Urban Justice Center partnered to conduct a survey on the tenant experience in Bronx Housing Court. Their startling results, along with several solid policy recommendations, are available here.

Have a great weekend and stay dry!

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by | March 20, 2013 · 12:30 pm

Needed: New Mayor to End Homelessness in NYC

homelessness nyc 2

Rates of homelessness in New York City are still rising. As of January 2013, Coalition for the Homeless reported that 50,100 people were homeless. Of  those who were homeless, 12,000 were families and 21,000 were children. These statistics illustrate the highest rates of homelessness since the Great Depression.

Since Mayor Bloomberg took office in January of 2002, 61 percent more folks are sleeping in shelters.   And beyond these statistics, thousands more are sleeping in public spaces, including subways, park benches, and sidewalks, each night.

Many attribute the heightened rates of homelessness to Bloomberg’s unwillingness to target the root causes of poverty. Throughout Bloomberg’s 11 year tenure, he has notoriously implemented band aid fixes by funneling more money into the shelter system while simultaneously cutting programs like Work Advantage. City Limits cited that since January of this year, the Department of Homeless Services has created 12 new homeless shelters, costing the city $722M. These costs are exorbitant and unnecessary. To save money and lessen rampant poverty, deviating from Bloomberg’s ‘crisis management’ tactics is imperative.

In the same City Limits article, the increase in homelessness is also attributed to the increase in eviction rates. West Bronx Housing, a community-based non-profit that works with tenants to prevent unnecessary evictions, has witnessed this increase firsthand. Between the months of July and October in 2010, West Bronx Housing supported 137 tenants battling eviction. Exactly one year later, they supported 240 tenants battling eviction. While the study’s sample size is small, the figures offer a snapshot of multiplied homelessness in recent years.

Many of the evictions are correlated to the loss of jobs as well as cuts in public benefits. Last week, the New York State Department of Labor released new data stating that 9.9 percent of New York City residents are currently unemployed. This statistic is even higher than unemployment rates from one year ago. Additionally, a major blow to housing in New York was when the City cut the Advantage program last year.  According to the NY Times, the program benefited 15,000 families by providing them stable housing in private multi-family buildings.  With the elimination of this program, many of these families were forced to return to the shelter system. We need new tactics that prevent homelessness and permanently remove people from the shelter system.

With an upcoming mayoral race, we are looking forward to a new mayor who will radically change Bloomberg’s homeless strategies.  A few of the candidates have already offered their ideas. Speaker Christine Quinn, a longstanding proponent of affordable housing, is hoping to reopen lists for federal housing programs, such as Section 8 (there has been a freeze for years), as well as create more rental assistance programs to support folks as they leave the shelter system. Alternatively, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio would like to reinstitute the Advantage program and use city pension funds to create new affordable housing.  As Bloomberg’s tenure ends and a new mayoral term begins, New York has an opportunity to reconstruct homeless intervention programs and expand affordable housing. Stay tuned for more about mayoral candidates’ plans for much needed affordable housing in our city!

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by | March 18, 2013 · 9:25 am

Innovative First Look Program Sparks Another Exciting Victory for Bronx Tenants!

For over two years, tenants, organizers, advocates and elected officials battled with New York Community Bank, New York’s largest multifamily lender, to determine a path to preservation for the thousands and thousands of units of distressed and at risk affordable housing, damaged by Predatory Equity. The result, as we detailed last summer in “Breaking the Banks,” is a revolutionary “First Look” Program that allows HPD approved landlords a better opportunity to purchase overleveraged and physically damaged affordable housing in foreclosure.  The details of the program were first hammered out between NYCB and advocates, including UHAB, in the Spring 2012, and currently there are at least three participating banks.  

Today, HPD, Speaker Quinn, Workforce Housing Advisors (WFHA), the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) and UHAB are pleased to announce the beginnings of a gut renovation of some of the the earliest multifamily residential buildings to be transferred to an approved affordable housing developer through the First Look program. WFHA purchased the mortgages at a discount from NYCB in October 2011, and after a comprehensive relocation process (which assured tenants the opportunity to return home following renovation), closed on a $4.7 million financing package.  This package will allow the properties to be fully repaired while also ensuring that they remain affordable for the current residents for years to come.

“The deal is an example of what the City can accomplish when we work together to protect tenants’ homes,” said Speaker Christine C. Quinn. “The ‘First Look’ agreement we reached with New York Community Bank ensures the City and good developers get first crack at purchasing loans and preserving buildings, and I thank Workforce Housing Advisers,  UHAB, and HPD for their hard work to save these homes.”

In her recent State of the City address, Christine Quinn proposed created a housing fund “to make bulk purchases of over leveraged housing. The city will make sure repairs get made while properties make their way through the foreclosure process. Then, we’ll transfer them to an approved developer who will keep the buildings affordable and in good condition.” This proposal is the result of collaboration between the City and housing advocates for the past year. Our idea, which we have called the Interim Facility, will build upon First Look by setting up a framework for large scale preservation of distressed housing.

539-541 E. 147th are the first two buildings in the First Look program to begin the long renovation process, but there are other buildings purchased through the program and are slated for future development. WFHA purchased mortgages in foreclosure from NYCB on 1380 University, also in the Bronx. As recently reported, Banana Kelly and Wavecrest Management also reached a deal on three properties on College Avenue. Tenants in both 1380 University and the College Avenue properties are working closely with CASA (Community Action for Safe Apartments) to ensure that they have a voice in the future of their buildings.

Another exciting victory for the First Look program took place in March 2012 when Mutual Housing Association of NY (MHANY) purchased mortgages from NYCB  on four extremely distressed properties in Brooklyn. These buildings, organized by UHAB, are still winding their way through the foreclosure process. MHANY expects to become the deed holder in the next few months. Once that happens, tenants can look forward to extensive repairs and a cooperative relationship with their non-profit landlord. In the meantime, tenants, UHAB organizers, and MHANY have been meeting regularly with architects to collaborate on a plan for renovation.

The addresses of buildings that have entered the preservation pipeline  through the First Look program thus far are 539-541 E. 147th Street, 1380 University Ave, and 1259, 1265, and 1269 College Avenue in the Bronx, and 230-232 Schenectady Ave, 266 Malcom X Blvd, 896 Madison Street in Brooklyn. Combined, these properties are home to over 250 families. As the Interim Facility gets off the ground and the First Look program continues to grow, we expect this number to multiply!

To read more about the upcoming renovation at E. 147th Street, read today’s press release here.

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by | January 9, 2013 · 3:12 pm

City Council to Pass Underlying Conditions Bill

Today, the NYC council will vote to pass a bill, sponsored by Councilmember Gail Brewer, that will force city slumlords to abandon quick fixes in favor of high quality, lasting repairs. The bill is based on the city’s relatively successful AEP program, which gives the city the power to repair problems themselves as well as collect both the costs and fees of the service.

The bill is the result of hard work and cooperation between the New York City Council and the housing advocacy community, including UHAB, Tenants and Neighbors, Legal Services and ANHD.

This morning, Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilmembers Gail Brewer, David Greenfield, and Robert Jackson expressed their support for this bill in a press conference at City Hall.  In arguing for the bill’s passage, she told the story of Kymm Moore, a tenant that formerly lived at 836 Faile Street — a building UHAB has been organizing for over a year. 836 Faile Street was in foreclosure for several years when private equity company Stabilis Capital Management purchased the mortgage, presumably hoping to make a quick buck.

While living at 836 Faile St., Kymm suffered from recurring leaks and mold. Because of the recurring  nature of these problems, the City Council believes that passing this bill will successfully eradicate these issues. Both Speaker Quinn and Councilmember Brewer noted that the program will lessen the cost of housing code violations for New York City tax payers, by reducing costly inspections and providing the City with stronger tools to collect fees.

Last month, the New York Daily News visited tenants at 1507 St. Johns Place and spoke with them about their views on the measure. While tenants are hopeful that the bill will improve the quality of repairs, 1507 St. Johns Place, like 836 Faile St., is in foreclosure. The bill does not address how it will hold non-owner receivers responsible for the same repairs as landlords. In New York City, multifamily buildings continue to face foreclosure in startlingly high numbers, and the overloaded Supreme Court means many buildings stay in foreclosure for several years. It is necessary that the City of New York hold receivers and banks responsible for housing conditions as well as landlords.

Stay tuned as more articles come out about this exciting measure today! We’ll be posting them here.

“City Council to Push Owners for Core Repairs,” Wall Street Journal

“City Council Demands Landlords Fix Underlying Conditions in Apartments” NY1

“City Council Pushes Bill for Housing Fix” WNYC

“Council Wants To Force Landlords To Fix ‘Underlying Conditions’” Gotham Gazette

“NYC Landlords Must Fix Problems Under New Law” The Epoch Times

“New NYC Law Puts Increased Pressure on Slumlords to Make Needed Repairs,” NYDN

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