Press Releases

Community and housing activists joined Council Member Carlina Rivera and Council Member Sandy Nurse, Comptroller Brad Lander, and other elected officials at a rally at City Hall to call for increased support for community land trusts (CLTs), to shield land and housing from speculation in the wake of the pandemic. Groups called for strong public investment in CLTs and policymaking to stabilize housing and promote a just recovery in Black and brown neighborhoods hardest-hit by the COVID-19 crisis.

As the New York Senate prepares for hearings this week on Governor Hochul’s nomination of Adrienne Harris for Superintendent of the NYS Department of Financial Services, racial and economic justice groups delivered a letter to Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, urging the Senate to conduct a rigorous examination of Ms. Harris’ record and experience.

Ahead of the City’s tax lien sale this Friday, the Abolish the NYC Tax Lien Sale Coalition released a new analysis revealing the lien sale list includes 392 vacant lots that could support the development of over 3,600 affordable housing units. This represents a recurring missed opportunity for the City to partner with community land trusts (CLTs) to acquire these vacant lots and develop deeply-affordable housing for low-income New Yorkers, the organization said. 

This afternoon the NYS Community Equity Agenda, a coalition of more than 40 community, labor, and civil rights groups, cooperative organizations, and community development financial institutions from across New York, released its policy priorities for 2022.

The 25 undersigned New York-based organizations call on Governor Hochul to immediately rescind her nomination of Adrienne Harris for Superintendent of the NYS Department of Financial Services (DFS). Our organizations collectively represent millions of New Yorkers, from communities across the state. We see first-hand how DFS’s actions directly affect our members and all New Yorkers, as well as our neighborhoods and the state overall.

New Economy Project’s Co-Director, Deyanira Del Río, testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions last week on the growing movement for local public banking in New York. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who spoke at the hearing—one of the first on public banking in modern American history—said it was a “historic day and a day worth celebrating.” 

Community and housing activists joined elected officials at a rally at City Hall Park today, as they called for a just budget that includes $1.51 million for the Citywide Community Land Trust (CLT) Initiative to expand community control of land and housing in NYC’s Black, brown and immigrant communities. Funding will support 14 neighborhood-based CLTs organizing across the five boroughs, as well as four citywide technical support organizations.