Leveraging the Community Power for Solving the Affordable Housing Crisis in NYC

On September 21, 2023, Mayor Eric Adams presented the “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” proposal, a citywide zoning reform initiative aiming to address what has been characterized as a “housing crisis” originated by high rents, housing undersupply, and outdated normative barriers. The proposal aims to update current norms and spur the construction of up to one hundred thousand homes in the coming years.

In this context, Leveraging the Community Power for Solving the Affordable Housing Crisis in NYC aims to facilitate a discussion with diverse community actors who can provide professional and personal insights to help us comprehend the current dynamics of the housing crisis in New York City. In this sense, we are approaching a highly complex urban problem by recognizing and involving the voices of those community actors that have been facing the housing crisis. We envision embracing the role of community power and organization can help expand the paths that will allow NYC to move forward.

Moderator: Howard Slatkin, Adjunct Associate Professor at GSAPP, and Executive Director for the Citizens Housing and Planning Council.

Panelists:

Carmen Vazquez, Project Coordinator at We Stay/Nos Quedamos Inc.

Margy Brown, Executive Director of the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board.

Oksana Mironova, Housing Policy Analyst at the Community Service Society of New York.

Rob Robinson, community organizer, a member of Take Back the Land movement and the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights.

Organized by the Urban Planning Program at Columbia GSAPP.