September
2023
18
We, the undersigned labor and community groups and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), write to urge you to take immediate actions, as outlined below, to repair and restore the NYS CDFI Fund to its intended purpose.
May
2023
30
Today’s hearing poses two urgent questions for New York State policymakers: “Why did Signature Bank fail?” and “What can be done to prevent future bank failures in New York?” My testimony primarily will focus on how public banking can strengthen New York’s financial sector in ways that promote responsible lending, equitable reinvestment, and racial and economic justice.
May
2023
25
Where the City places its public deposits is a fundamental matter of public concern. Our testimony will focus on how the City should use its considerable leverage to ensure that our public money works for the public good.
May
2023
16
The undersigned 113 organizations call on you to enact the Community Land Act, an urgently-needed set of bills that gives community land trusts (CLTs) and other nonprofits tools to develop and preserve permanently-affordable housing, community and commercial space, and other neighborhood assets. By taking land off the speculative market, CLTs protect public investment in affordable housing and maintain affordability over generations.
May
2023
3
We write to express our strong opposition to A5053, an act relating to regulating so-called earned wage advance (“EWA”) services. This bill is a direct threat to New York’s long-standing usury protections and would authorize predatory loan products, undermining consumer and worker protections and exacerbating wealth extraction from our state’s low income communities and communities of color.
April
2023
26
Over the past fifteen years, New York City’s CLT movement has grown significantly. Amidst the city’s growing housing affordability and homelessness crises, several grassroots movements coalesced around CLTs. We collaborated with the Pratt Center for Community Development to showcase the powerful and growing movement for CLTs in NYC.
April
2023
19
This year, the City of New York will collect more than $100 billion in revenue, from taxes and other sources, to fund public services. Currently, most of this money is placed on deposit with large, commercial banks that systematically harm New Yorkers and finance fossil fuels, speculative real estate, and other destructive industries. Public banking offers a bold alternative, and we urge the City Council to take immediate steps toward establishing a public bank, starting with swiftly passing “The People’s Bank Act.”
March
2023
17
We write to express our alarm over recent reports that hundreds of millions of dollars in public deposits belonging to New York local governments are held at failed Signature Bank. Our coalitions, which include dozens of community and labor groups representing hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, strongly urge you to pass the New York Public Banking Act (S1754/A3352) this session and give local governments a sorely-needed “public option” for holding public deposits.
February
2023
23
The Community Land Act is a bold legislative package that will give CLTs and other nonprofits tools to acquire land for permanently affordable social housing, affordable commercial and community spaces, and other critical needs. We urge the Committee and Council to pass the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA (Int. 196), Public Land for Public Good (Int. 637), and Resolution 38 in support of the NYS Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, or TOPA.
February
2023
2
A system to replace NYC’s tax lien sale should advance critical affordable housing and equitable development goals. This report outlines a framework through which New York City can enforce the collection of property tax arrears and other debts, in ways that prevent the displacement of vulnerable homeowners, preserve affordable rental units, and expand the pipeline of properties for new development.