Editorial
Housing investments to
keep New York affordable
It’s not only getting harder for the average
New Yorker to afford to live here; it’s
getting more difficult just to keep a roof
over their family’s heads.
The signs of this are palpable — from the
tragic increase in homelessness across the
five boroughs to the more than 75,000 New
Yorkers who hit the road for good last year,
based on U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
Everyone, we believe, is entitled to a
decent home here. No one should be forced
by economics to leave the state or live in the
streets. And the simple fact is neither the
state nor the city have done enough to keep
New Yorkers at home.
The latest appeal for help came Monday
from the Legal Aid Society. They publicly
called on Governor Andrew Cuomo to do
something he ignored in his latest budget:
fund improvements for public housing, and
other housing reforms.
The Legal Aid Society demanded that
Cuomo commit to $3 billion for public
housing improvements across New York
State — including $2 billion solely to provide
emergency repairs at NYCHA dwellings.
They also want at least $500 million
for housing vouchers to help tenants afford
their rents, and additional funds to build up
to 20,000 affordable housing units.
It’s the kind of proactive approach to
homelessness and housing affordability
which City Council Speaker (and 2021 mayoral
candidate) Corey Johnson championed
last week.
Johnson’s plan would work to stop homelessness
before it starts by subsidizing housing
for tenants on the brink. That’s a far cry
from the de Blasio Administration response
to the escalating number of homelessness
from its beginning — which has often been
decried as reactionary, poorly organized and
tone deaf.
It’s unfair to suggest that the proposals
Johnson and the Legal Aid Society offered
are merely “throwing money at a problem.”
The cost of housing in New York City is
so exorbitantly high that it cannot afford
a massive, sudden drop of any kind; it
would crash the local economy virtually
overnight.
The only remedy at this point is to improve
public housing and offer rent subsidies
that will ease the massive financial burden
for many living here. That, more than anything,
would not only address the homelessness
crisis, but also our city’s affordability
problem.
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
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VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
ROBERT POZARYCKI
GABE HERMAN
ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL
MARK HALLUM
MICHELE HERMAN
BOB KRASNER
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MARY REINHOLZ
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1987 flea market
at Our Lady of
Pompeii Church
(VILLAGER FILE PHOTO/NYU)
These photos are from the Feb. 12, 1987 issue of The Villager. The
caption read in part, “The February 7 flea market at Our Lady of
Pompeii Church on Carmine St. was another unqualified success
as people jammed the church hall to look over the variety of crafts and
goodies being offered.” At left, children check out some toys, while the
photo on the right shows Lucy Cecere and Sister Andreine at the event.
— Gabe Herman
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12 February 6, 2020 Schneps Media
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