A new pathway for the legalization and conversion of basement and cellar apartments in the city was included in this year’s state budget—but excludes many of the neighborhoods hardest hit by flooding in recent years. bit.ly/3WlZT5J

ICYM: NYCHA seniors are poised to lose unarmed security @ their buildings, for $7M saved

“While I understand NYCHA’s difficult budget position, their budgets should not be balanced on the backs of so many who have already given so much' -Councilmember Chris Banks

citylimits.org/2024/05/02/nyc…

NYCHA has a $35 million budget gap to bridge this calendar year. To save $7 million, it's cutting unarmed security at all its buildings for seniors come June 30.

Tatyana Turner has the deets: bit.ly/3UHrvkn

Good quick hit from Tatyana Turner:

As part of its cost-saving efforts, NYCHA is slashing $7M that funded unarmed security guards across all 55 of its senior buildings

“What do you mean they are going to remove them?”

citylimits.org/2024/05/02/nyc…

Seven of the board’s nine mayoral appointees voted 5-2 in favor of rent hikes between 2 and 4.5% for a one-year lease and 4 to 6.5% for two years.

Minutes earlier, its two tenant members had walked out in protest, along with most of the chanting crowd.

citylimits.org/2024/05/01/nyc…

Adi Talwar the final vote will be June 17, but the goalposts have been set: rent hikes between 2 and 4.5 percent for a one-year lease and 4 to 6.5 percent for two years.

Catch up on this year's dynamics here: citylimits.org/2024/05/01/nyc…

big shoutout to Adi Talwar for always capturing the essence of these meetings

This is 77-year old Viola Bibins, who told me:

“I have to decide: should I pay for my medication or should I pay my rent?”

citylimits.org/2024/05/01/nyc…

The RGB's tenant members walked out of last night's prelim vote, w/ rent hikes coming

'Framing the issue as one of degrees of suffering between… owners who have negative consequences from biz decisions and tenant suffering is abhorrent.'

New from me: citylimits.org/2024/05/01/nyc…

Each week, City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon. bit.ly/4di3rMm

“Should I pay for my medication or should I pay my rent?” said stabilized tenant Viola Bibins, 77. “I am on a fixed income because I’m retired, and my rent isn’t that high but I still can’t afford it.”

Story by Emma Whitford, photos by Adi Talwar: bit.ly/3QqDNeK

Las comunidades en la frontera de México y Estados Unidos: más allá del crimen y la inmigración (podcast) eldiariony.com/2024/04/29/las… Gracias a Jesús García 🐦 y Daniel Parra Mejía por la oportunidad.
CC. Sergio Chapa

Noticed this new disclaimer on the top of the city's housing lotteries page -- required in a legal settlement the city reached over its 'community preference' policy, which gave locals an edge for a % of a project's units

Chris Janaro wrote about it in Jan: bit.ly/44nzPJt

Tenants shared concerns about getting timely repairs post-conversion, and questioned NYCHA’s process for selecting the campuses it converts to PACT. “We didn’t have a choice to vote,” said one resident at Penn-Wortman Houses, a PACT development since 2021. bit.ly/4dbmTu6

Why is the basement legalization pilot approved in the state budget so small in scope?

“Some of my colleagues have argued that effectively you would be rewarding property owners for doing something that’s improper,” Sen. Brian Kavanagh told Emma Whitford

ICYMI via City Limits Mariana Simões: How Governor Kathy Hochul NY Assembly Majority dropped the ball on climate in the budget.

As Jessica Azulay AGREE New York says, “we’re not giving up” on #NYHEAT this session. citylimits.org/2024/04/25/som…

“I’m surprised, I’m baffled, I’m angry,” said Sandy Nurse who represents East New York, where the city ran an earlier basement conversion pilot.

It's excluded from the new program, which applies to 15 of NYC's 59 community districts

via Chris Janaro: bit.ly/3WlZT5J

It was such an honor speaking with Daniel Parra Mejía and Jesús García 🐦 for the City Limits podcast about 'Frontera: A Journey Across the US/Mexico Border'

A project that was three years in the making with Guadalupe Correa

#BorderLife #USMexicoBorder #RGV #Matamoros #Reynosa #Tijuana

Un verdadero privilegio haber platicado con Daniel Parra Mejía (@CityLimitsNews/Una Ciudad Sin Límites) y Jesús García 🐦 (@eldiariony) sobre nuestro nuevo libro 'Frontera: A Journey Across the US-Mexico Border' (escrito con mi hermano Sergio Chapa). Fue una gran experiencia.

To date, 37,707 NYCHA units are either in the planning and engagement stage, under construction or have already been converted to the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) initiative, officials said. bit.ly/4dbmTu6

“Calling this a pilot was the fig leaf that allowed them to play politics with boundaries” -Howard Slatkin Executive Director at Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC) on the state’s go-ahead for a new basement&cellar legalization pilot in select city community districts. For City Limits
citylimits.org/2024/04/29/adv…