TOWER
10 COURIER LIFE, MAY 1-7, 2020
IMMIGRANTS
of income.”
Compounding the problem,
Perez said many of the
city’s undocumented immigrants
lack proper insurance
and do not have easy access
to a doctor in the event they
show severe symptoms.
“Many of the families we
are seeing right now are already
underinsured and uninsured,”
Perez said. “Even
being able to provide or get
access to a doctor is already a
huge obstacle for them to begin
with.”
Perez and her team counsel
families to consult the
city’s helpline, 311, which can
connect individuals with a
NYC Health and Hospitals
clinician — but that resource
hotline is overwhelmed, resulting
in excruciatingly long
waits for assistance, she said.
“The 311 line right now is
heavily, heavily saturated,”
said Perez. “And so it defi -
nitely becomes a waiting game
for them to get even a hold
of the doctor or some kind of
commission that will be able
to support them in managing
symptoms or getting their
questions answered.”
Some families Mixteca
serves who have visited hospitals
have been turned away
for failing to present severe
enough symptoms, and instead
are treating themselves
in their homes — where they
often succumb to the disease,
Perez said.
“Many of them decided
to self-medicate and try to
manage at home,” Perez said.
“That has created a domino
effect, in that many aren’t taking
care of their condition and
passing away in their home.”
In some situations, infected
family members are
choosing to isolate themselves
from the rest of their
families. This often means
fi nding alternative housing,
as immigrants’ oftencramped
quarters — which
might span multiple generations,
or even multiple families
— do not provide appropriate
distancing space.
“Many undocumented
families are fi nding ways
to survive, they are renting
rooms,” Perez said. “There
can defi nitely be multiple
families in one place, often
multi-generational. We see a
lot of that.”
To make matters even
worse, many undocumented
immigrants are spending
the rest of their savings in
order to survive, according
to Perez, who noted that noncitizens
are not eligible for
unemployment benefi ts, as
well as the $1,200 stimulus
checks granted by the federal
government’s coronavirusrelated
relief package.
“Many families are using
up their savings as a last resort,”
Perez said. “They don’t
qualify for any relief, any
stimulus package and so that
puts them at an even greater
disadvantage because they
don’t receive any type of assistance.”
Perez said many organizations
like hers are preparing
relief funds in an effort
to provide suffering families
some support through the
pandemic.
“A lot of local-based nonprofi
ts have been trying to
step up. A lot of them are, like
us, trying to set up emergency
relief funds,” Perez said “And
because there is no type of
relief funds in the state, the
city, or on the federal levels
we found ourselves organizing
to get at least some kind of
economic support for them.”
Donations can be made to
Mixteca Organization’s emergency
relief fund at www.
charity.gofundme.com/o/
en/campaign/mi xt e cas -
emergency-fund-for-undocumented
folks
4,000 units across the city —
plans refurbish the 1992-built
tower between Jay and Pearl
streets that once housed volunteers
for the Christian evangelist
group, adding 305 “supportive
units” for recently homeless
people and 202 below-marketrate
rentals.
The “supportive units” will
come equipped with social services
to help residents fi nd jobs,
treat their medical needs, and
transition into the housing,
while the 202 other units will be
open to households that make
30-100 percent of the area’s
median income, which is currently
set at $96,100 for a family
of three.
The 202 affordable units will
range from $504 for a studio to
$2,000 for a one-bedroom.
Breaking Ground bought
the tower from Big Apple developer
RFR Realty for $170 million
in August 2018, one year
after the Jehovah’s Witnesses
sold the building for $135 million.
During Wednesday’s Council
meeting over Zoom — the
Council’s fi rst meeting since
mid-March — lawmakers approved
three other rezoning
applications, including the rezoning
The former Jehovah’s Witness
tower. Photo by Susan Devries
of a package of vacant,
publicly-owned lots in Bedford-
Stuyvesant. The city plans to
sell the lots to three development
fi rms that seek to erect
seven affordable housing condos
on them, should the mayor
approve the rezoning request.
The four-to-seven-story
buildings will house 78 affordable
units, either one- or twobedroom
apartments, priced
within the federally-designated
Area Median Income (AMI) index
of the Five Boroughs, deeming
the units “affordable.” However,
the city’s median income
— $96,100 for a family of three
— is signifi cantly higher than
Bedford-Stuyvesant’s median
income of around $52,900, meaning
that the residents who qualify
for the “affordable” housing
will make between $11,120 and
$52,733 more than the neighborhood’s
average household.
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