Statement in Response to NYC’s FY22 Budget

NYC Community Land Initiative members released the following statement in response to the new NYC budget, which includes historic investment in community land trusts:

The budget adopted by the Mayor and City Council today is the largest in New York City’s history and restores critically-needed funding for schools, health care, and other vital services.

We are especially pleased that the City Council funded the Citywide Community Land Trust Initiative at $1.5 million, nearly doubling its support from pre-pandemic levels. The growing CLT movement fought hard for this victory, and increased funding will strengthen CLTs organizing for permanently-affordable housing and community-led development in Black, brown and immigrant neighborhoods throughout the city.

We thank Council Member Carlina Rivera for being a stalwart champion of CLTs, and all of the City Council Members who backed this critical initiative. By giving communities control of land and housing, CLTs combat speculation and displacement and will be key to a just recovery.

At the same time, the City’s new budget fails to re-envision public safety for all New Yorkers. Instead of delivering needed cuts to the NYPD’s already bloated budget, the Mayor and City Council chose, unacceptably, to increase it by hundreds of millions of dollars.

We join calls for the City to divest from policing and incarceration, and to increase investment in schools, truly affordable housing, and community-driven approaches to public safety. We urge the City to continue to deepen its support for community-owned initiatives, like CLTs and worker cooperatives, that promote self-governance, racial equity, and housing and worker justice.