Groups, Tenants, Electeds Rally at City Hall, Demand Council Boost Community Land Trusts To Keep New Yorkers Housed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 18, 2024
Contact: Will Spisak, will@neweconomynyc.org

Groups, Tenants, Electeds Rally at City Hall, Demand Council Boost Community Land Trusts To Keep New Yorkers Housed

As Hochul Bows to Real Estate, Coalition Calls on NYC Council to Stand with Tenants

NEW YORK, NY – On Thursday, more than 50 community, housing, and environmental justice groups and elected officials rallied at City Hall for the Community Land Act, a slate of local bills that would give community land trusts (CLTs) tools to remove land from the speculative market and expand community- and tenant-controlled permanently affordable housing in Black and brown neighborhoods. The action took place as Governor Hochul pushes a disastrous housing proposal that would embolden predatory landlords and exacerbate the displacement of low-income tenants.

Groups also called for adoption of the $2 billion Homes Now, Homes for Generation capital budget proposal, to help CLTs and other nonprofits create and preserve permanently affordable housing; and for $3 million in the city’s FY2025 expense budget for the Community Land Trust Initiative, to support CLTs organizing across the five boroughs.

CLTs are community-controlled nonprofit organizations that steward land for the public good. Across the five boroughs, more than 20 CLTs are working to facilitate neighborhood-led development, combat real estate speculation and displacement, and develop or preserve deeply affordable housing. 

Over 130 community, housing, and social justice organizations support the Community Land Act. The package includes the Public Land for Public Good Act (Intro 78), sponsored by Council Member Lincoln Restler, which would require the city to prioritize CLTs and other nonprofits in public land dispositions, and the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (to be reintroduced in May), sponsored by Council Member Carlina Rivera, which would give qualified nonprofits a first opportunity to bid on multifamily properties when up for sale. These measures would expand property pipelines to organizations committed to maintaining deeply and permanently affordable housing and neighborhood-led development. 

The Community Land Act also includes a resolution, to be reintroduced Thursday afternoon by NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, that calls on New York State to enact the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA). TOPA would give tenants statewide a first right to collectively purchase and convert their buildings to permanently affordable housing when a landlord sells. Another Community Land Act proposal would permanently abolish the tax lien sale and require the City to work with CLTs to convert distressed properties to permanently affordable housing. Last week, Council Member Sandy Nurse introduced bills (Intros 782, 783, and Res. 327) that would convert key pieces of the proposal into law.

The groups additionally called for robust funding to stabilize and expand the supply of deeply and permanently affordable housing. They urged the city to adopt the Homes Now, Homes for Generations capital budget proposal, which would invest $2 billion over four years in affordable housing production and preservation, including by CLTs and other community-based nonprofits. Jointly led by CLT and affordable housing advocates, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and the City Council Progressive Caucus, the proposal would quadruple the city’s investment in affordable homeownership and preserve 7,000 rent-stabilized apartments. The groups also backed NYCHA tenants’ calls for $3.55 billion in the capital budget for repairs, to preserve the city’s vital public housing stock.

The groups also called for enhanced funding of $3 million in New York City’s FY2025 budget for the citywide CLT Initiative. Launched in FY2020, the initiative funds CLT organizing and technical assistance and has helped catalyze new CLTs across the city.

At the rally, CLT activists spoke about their multiple recent victories: East New York CLT worked with tenants on Arlington Avenue to purchase their neglected multifamily building, which the CLT will convert to shared equity cooperatives. Mott Haven-Port Morris CLT won an RFP to convert a long-vacant property in the South Bronx to a center for health, education, and the arts. East Harlem El Barrio CLT recently completed rehab on two multifamily properties it acquired from the city in 2020. And ReAL Edgemere CLT was selected to acquire and redevelop 119 vacant lots in the Rockaways. Across the city, a growing number of community and tenant groups are organizing and demanding city support to build on these victories and bring more land and housing into community control. 

QUOTES:

“Albany’s repeated capitulations to the real estate lobby further underscore why we must decommodify housing to keep New Yorkers housed,” said Elise Goldin, CLT Campaign Organizer at New Economy Project, which coordinates the NYC Community Land Initiative. “The Community Land Act addresses root causes of housing insecurity by tackling speculation and prioritizing CLTs and nonprofits in housing sales. Coupled with funding, the bills will expand the supply of deeply-affordable, community-controlled housing New Yorkers desperately need.” 

“The Community Land Act is a critical set of bills to remove housing from speculation and expand housing models that give tenants a say in the future of their homes,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “With the state failing to protect tenants, the City Council and advocates are pushing for much needed tools and investments at the city-level. The New York City Council must pass the Community Land Act now and ensure funds to make these programs succeed today, tomorrow, and for generations.”

“Cities like New York are cities of opportunity, and if we don’t provide spaces for people to come and live and stay — and stay for generations — then we’re failing,” said Council Member Pierina Sanchez. “The market does not deliver homes at the affordability levels that low-income and working-class New Yorkers need, which is why we gather to uplift the role of mission-driven organizations and community land trusts in building and preserving affordable housing. Through a $2 billion investment into HPD’s capital budget through the Homes Now, Homes for Generations campaign, we invest in ensuring our city remains a city of opportunity with the participation of this key sector.”

“As we continue to face a housing and homelessness crisis, we must commit to building and preserving affordable housing for those who need it most,” said Will Depoo, Senior Campaign Organizer at the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development. “The package of bills in the Community Land Act provides our communities with more tools to fight speculation, develop responsibly, move distressed buildings into the hands of responsible community stewards, and ensure that public resources go where they’re most needed.”

“The Community Land Act is key to determining how the City develops and evolves,” said Arif Ullah, of South Bronx Unite and the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards. “In essence, it’s a reflection of the City’s values. The question is, are our legislators, our Mayor, our Council Speaker equally committed to a just and equitable city that prioritizes the well-being of the vast majority of its residents, or is their allegiance to the real estate industry and private interests? Whether they support and champion the CLA is the answer.”

“It’s outrageous that once again we are calling on the city to work with us on this basic demand that our public assets–city owned land–be used for public good, for permanently affordable housing,” said Brianna Soleyn, Board Member of the East New York Community Land Trust. “The ENY CLT has done years of on-the-ground community planning to identify public sites in our neighborhood that can be used for what the community really wants and needs. We need institutional support to thrive!”

“This Land Is Ours CLT is working on several new construction projects, and all will be deeply affordable,” said Valerio Orselli, Project Director of This Land Is Ours CLT. “On the East 5th St. NYPD Parking Lot, we plan to develop upwards of one hundred apartments for seniors and disabled people. The site has been designated for low-income housing, and we have secured over 600 signatures in support of our project from our Lower East Side community as well as the overwhelming support of Community Board 3. But the City insists on issuing an RFP open to all developers and refuses to prioritize CLTs. Public Land for the Public Good would allow us to move forward, instead of waiting for an RFP they haven’t even drafted yet. Another major project would greatly benefit if COPA or TOPA were passed, along with a funding stream. We must pass the Community Land Act now.”

“CLTs all over New York City are showing that they have the momentum and the know-how to take land off the speculative market and put people over profit,” said Alexis Foote, Founder and Board Chair of ReAL Edgemere Community Land Trust. “Let’s pass the Community Land Act to give CLTs the tools they need to turn neighbors into owners.” 

“Having lived in the same apartment in Hell’s Kitchen for more than forty years and witnessed firsthand the devastating effects the action and inaction of a predatory landlord has had on fellow tenants and neighbors, I believe it is high time for the city to pass the Community Land Act,” said Nicholas Latimer, Tenants’ Association leader at 438/440 W. 45th Street, apartment buildings formerly owned by Daniel Ohebshalom, a NYC ‘worst landlord’ as declared by the NYC Public Advocate’s Office. “The care and maintenance of our homes should be entrusted to the people to whom it matters the most: the residents of our community.” 

“Every year, hundreds of thousands of violations of housing law are issued in NYC while millions of renters are severely rent-burdened,” said Mark Natanawan, Tenant Organizer at Housing Conservation Coordinators. “We need to fix up run-down apartment buildings across the city and tackle the affordability crisis by investing in and supporting community-owned, nonprofit-operated housing. Our city needs to pass the Community Land Act as well as funding through Homes Now, Homes for Generations this year!”

“The NWBCCC and Bronx CLT are already beginning to demonstrate the power of community-driven development to provide deeply and permanently affordable housing through our new construction and preservation projects,” said Todd Baker, Community Development Project Manager at Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC). “The Community Land Act would provide the policy framework and Homes Now, Homes for Generations would provide the resources necessary to scale projects like these across the Bronx and beyond. This is the kind of transformative approach that our neighbors need and deserve.”

“The importance of passing COPA cannot be overstated,” said Gilbert Butcher, Member of Met Council on Housing and Tenant Leader at 709 W 170th St, another apartment building owned by Ohebshalom, who was recently arrested for negligence and endangerment. “It gives tenants an opportunity to buy the buildings they live in which have been mismanaged by their slumlords. At a time when homelessness is so prevalent in the city, COPA can create a sense of security and peace of mind for tenants.” 

“Land is a precious resource and it is unacceptable that publicly owned land is sold to developers for as low as $1 in a city facing a serious housing crisis,” said Annetta Seecharran, Executive Director of Chhaya Community Development Corporation. “The Community Land Act will ensure that it falls in the hands of community centered groups like CLTs, CDCs and nonprofits who have long been fighting against gentrification, foreclosures and homelessness. The time to act is now.”

“I am thrilled to see the Council stepping forward to require the City to act on past due bills accrued by landlords and investors who fail to contribute to the City budget and instead divest from the neighborhoods where they own properties,” said Paula Segal, Senior Staff Attorney at TakeRoot Justice.

“NYC is facing a critical shortage of deeply affordable housing, and we continue to lose affordable units to ongoing rent hikes and landlord warehousing,” said Jenny Dubnau, Co-Chair of the Western Queens CLT. “Gentrification and displacement are hollowing out Black and immigrant communities, and largely unaffordable housing is being built even on publicly owned land, often by for-profit developers. For example, a city-owned site on Hunters Point South in Queens is now being offered to developers, at only 60% affordability—and the proposed AMI levels are still too high. Mission-driven non-profits and CLTs can provide far deeper affordability than for-profit developers: our city leaders must pass the Public Land for Public Good Act to ensure deep, permanent affordability on public land. The Public Land for Public Good Act, part of the CLA, could also help WQCLT obtain a large city-owned manufacturing building on the gentrifying Queens waterfront, offering affordable work and cultural spaces to those who are currently priced out. And the CLA could help us obtain and fund additional sites for deeply affordable housing: we need the Community Land Act to pass!”

“Chinatown has one of the lowest rates of home ownership in all of New York City, and no new affordable units have been built in the last 30 years,” said Justin Yu, Member of the Chinatown Community Land Trust. “This systemic neglect has long-term social and economic ramifications for our neighborhood, with extreme fire hazards being just one of them. These problems are driving our neighborhood’s rapid decline, and it is time for a change. The CLT funding would enable the community to explore practical and sustainable solutions. It’s high time for our voices to be heard, and for the city to take action to uplift and improve our community for generations to come.”

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