Adams: New housing doesn’t help NYCHA residents
COURIER L 40 IFE, JANUARY 10-16, 2020
OPINION
BY ERIC ADAMS
“Eric, it’s not what you said
that troubles me, it’s when/
where/how you said it.”
In the days since I spoke at
the ribbon cutting for Stonewall
House, the concerns
shared by most of my friends
and allies in the LGBTQ community
can be summed up
by that sentiment. Contentions
have been raised by
my sharing intense remarks
during a joyous occasion. I
agree it’s uncomfortable to
hear tough truths at celebratory
events. Activists like
Essex Hemphill, Marsha P.
Johnson, Marlon Riggs, and
Sylvia Rivera knew this well
when they forced generations
before us to lean into our discomfort
and face challenges.
We should remember these
heroes and the example they
set of bold, unapologetic advocacy.
I recall the discomfort as a
young NYPD offi cer standing
with the Gay Offi cers Action
League (GOAL) as we pushed
for equality within the department.
That same discomfort
was present during the
fi ght for marriage equality
in Albany - numerous meetings
and celebrations were
disrupted then by people who
knew they were fi ghting for
what was right.
Community residents who
spoke to me before my remarks,
and have spoken to
me since, said they feel this
new building is not for them.
While they were forced to live
in substandard conditions,
with rats scurrying around
their apartments and toxic
mold blooming, they watched
as a nice building went up
a block away. This is a pain
we must collectively speak to
and resolve. That Stonewall
House also includes a new
community center makes it
particularly concerning that
some community residents
feel they are on the outside
looking in.
Stonewall House sits on
the campus of NYCHA’s Ingersoll
Houses in a historically
majority-Black neighborhood
that’s experienced
rapid gentrifi cation. Seventyseven
percent of Stonewall
House residents are Black,
Latino, or Asian. Ninety-fi ve
percent of NYCHA residents
are Black, Latino, or Asian.
Just one third of the building’s
units will go to NYCHA
residents. I think we can do
better, and I’m not alone.
SAGE deserves credit for
making this project possible.
I acknowledged the importance
of this milestone moment
in my remarks and acknowledge
it today, given the
signifi cant discrimination
our LGBTQ+ seniors have
faced. The issues I raise here
are not about SAGE or its
good work. There’s a larger
conversation taking place
about housing insecurity facing
New Yorkers of every age,
race, and identity, and there’s
a broader responsibility the
City has on land it controls.
NYCHA is in the process
of building infi ll projects like
Stonewall House on a number
of developments under its
NextGen 2.0 plan, hoping to
raise $2 billion to fund part
of its massive capital needs.
Many residents don’t trust
that the City will keep its
word, and they don’t know
if, let alone when, the benefi
ts promised from infi ll will
materialize. There’s more the
City can and should mandate
on projects for City-owned
land. We need stronger commitments
to local community
district preference, and more
detail in housing lottery marketing
plans laid out in land
disposition agreements will
ensure greater equity in limited
opportunities.
Additionally, we all need
to raise our voices to demand
NYCHA be more proactively
responsive to the repair needs
that residents face right now.
We must develop a real-time
approach to combat this crisis.
I would not and will never
pit one community against
another. It’s particularly unthinkable
to pit our communities
of color against our LGBTQ+
community, especially
when these communities are
intertwined. In 2016, the Williams
Institute reported that
42 percent of people in our
state who personally identify
as LGBTQ+ are people
of color. LGBTQ+ people of
color have long confronted
twice the cultural stigma and
a fraction of the resources for
their crises, including in the
fi ght against HIV and AIDS.
As someone who’s spent his
life in communities like Fort
Greene — fi rst as a lieutenant
in the 88th Precinct, now as
the fi rst Black borough president
— I know the raw pain
people experience when they
feel they are being neglected
or left out. I’m speaking to
that pain. I also know we’re
going to need more LGBTQfriendly
senior housing like
Stonewall House across the
fi ve boroughs. I feel passionate
about ensuring we get it
right for everyone involved.
Borough President Eric
Adams’ op-ed comes in response
to an article originally
published in Courier
Life’s affi liate publication
Gay City News and republished
in the Jan. 3–9, 2020
edition of Bay News, Mill-
Marine Courier, and Brooklyn
Graphic. It can be found
online at gaycitynews.com
and brooklynpaper.com.
Stonewall House is a 145-unit development
of studios and one-bedroom
apartments that is a part of
NYCHA’s 100-percent Affordable
Housing Program. All residents are
62 and older, and have incomes at or
below 50 percent of the city’s area
media income. As such, families
must earn less than $42,000 and single
residents have an income limit
below $37,000 to qualify, although
many residents who won the right
to move in through a lottery system
have incomes considerably lower
than those upper limits.
Roughly 37 percent of the 145
units were reserved for NYCHA residents
and another 25 percent were
earmarked for homeless New Yorkers.
77 percent of the residents of
Stonewall House are people of color
— 44-percent Black, 22-percent Latino,
and 11-percent Asian.
Stonewall House was built as an
infill project on land that is part of
NYCHA’s Ingersoll Houses. Revenues
from the NYCHA infill project
are reinvested in the financiallyimperiled
public housing authority.
One of the partners in developing
Stonewall House was Advocacy
and Services for LGBT Elders, or
SAGE, and it is designed to be an
LGBT-friendly environment. Legally,
there can be no limitation regarding
the sexual orientation or
gender identity of Stonewall House
residents, and SAGE has estimated
that LGBT residents makes up between
50 and 60 percent of the developments
total population.
The building includes a groundfloor
SAGE social services center
to support the needs of low-income
seniors regardless of sexual orientation
or gender identity. The services
in that center are also available
to neighboring residents in the
Fort Greene community. Adams
and City Councilwoman Laurie
Cumbo contributed funds totaling
several hundred thousand dollars
to support that SAGE social services
center.
Borough President Eric Adams drew criticism for remarks he made at a
ceremony commemorating the grand opening of the Stonewall House, a
100-percent affordable housing complex geared towards LGBTQ seniors.
Photo by Stefano Giovannini
Get to know the Stonewall House in Fort Greene
A rendering of the Stonewall House in Fort
Greene BFC PARTNERS/ MARVEL ARCHITECTS
/gaycitynews.com
/brooklynpaper.com