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Rabbi David Niederman, UJO Executive Director, joined yesterday a rally organized by Council Member Jumaane D. Williams, Deputy Leader and Chair of the Council's Housing and Buildings Committee - together with the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD) and other housing organizations - highlighting the Council's funding for local housing initiatives. The following is a release about the event by Councilman Williams' office.
NEW YORK, NY: Yesterday, Council Member Jumaane D. Williams (D-Brooklyn), Deputy Leader and Chair of the Council's Housing and Buildings Committee, joined housing organizations funded by the Housing Preservation Initiative (HPI) and the Community Consultant Contracts (CCC) to highlight the $3 million allocated for housing initiatives across the city. This year, Council Member Williams secured more funding for community-based housing initiatives than ever before, in part to supplement the Mayor's Housing Plan.
"As Chair of the Council's Housing and Buildings Committee, I am proud to announce that this year the City Council designated more money toward housing organizations than ever before," said Council Member Williams. "Organizations like the ones the City Council funded under HPI and CCC will help end the affordable housing crisis that has plagued our city for far too long. I would like to thank the Administration, Speaker and Chair of the Council's Finance committee for placing housing initiatives as a priority, and would like to thank all of the organizations present today for your outstanding work within our city."
"Affordable housing is a crucial part of making New York City accessible to all of our residents," said Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. "The City Council is proud to support housing initiatives across the City and I thank Housing and Buildings Committee Chair Williams and my Council colleagues for their work to protect our City's affordable housing stock."
Neighborhoods across the city are threatened by a loss of affordable housing, a threat that is made even more severe by the current economic crisis. HPI is a proven, successful program that currently funds neighborhood-based groups in many City Council districts to address key threats to affordable housing. HPI has a bottom-up strategy that allows each funded community to develop and implement an effective approach to stop the loss of affordable housing. Since its inception, HPI has been extremely successful in protecting affordable housing and promoting neighborhood stabilization in needy districts. The key to the success of HPI is its flexibility to support neighborhood groups in the development of strategic, grassroots-based solutions that directly address the particular threat to affordable housing in each community.
The CCC initiative provides core funding for the front-line anti-eviction services that community groups provide in all parts of the city working to keep residents in their homes and build strong, vibrant neighborhoods. When a community resident is at-risk of eviction, or when a constituent-service staff person needs assistance with a case, they call the CCC-funded anti-eviction specialist at their local community group.
Last year alone, the HPI and CCC programs reached more than 14,000 residents across the city and provided counseling for more than 8,000 tenants and homeowners. These programs also provided over 4,000 referrals to needed city agency services and resources.
"Poor tenants from across Williamsburg, are taking in the brunt of gentrification, and are desperately looking for help not to lose the roof over their head. Programs like HPI and CCC enable us - and other organizations around the city - to come up with locally-tailored programs to protect tenants from eviction, and entire families from facing homelessness and destruction," said Rabbi David Niederman, UJO Executive Director. "We commend Council Member Jumaane D. Williams, Housing Chair, and ANHD for fighting to expand funding to these programs which is desperately needed. Their actions will definitely protect the housing of families all around the city."
"Preserving safe and affordable housing is critical for all New Yorkers and for the future of our City," said Carolyn Silver, Chief Program Officer of Lenox Hill Neighborhood House. "We are grateful for the support of the City Council, which helps Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, and other community-based organizations, assist thousands of low income New Yorkers with housing-related needs, and we look forward to the continued efforts to expand access to housing and housing preservation services."
"HPI funding allows us to provide additional civil legal services to low income New Yorkers. Thank you New York City Council for funding this initiative," said Harvey Epstein, Director of Community Development Project for the Urban Justice Center.
"In Harlem, HCCI has been the vanguard for grassroots, affordable housing development," said Derek E. Broomes, President and CEO of Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, Inc. "We fought to revitalize Harlem's Bradhurst neighborhood, before this was a sought-after enclave. And, we couldn't have done it without support from our elected officials. We are delighted to hear about our Governor's renewed commitment to this cause."
"Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) has received HPI funding since FY2012 and it has been invaluable in supporting our work to prevent foreclosures, provide tenants rights information and resources, and otherwise preserve affordable housing in central Brooklyn. We thank the Council for their forward-thinking in providing this funding to BSDC and other organizations working to make it possible for families of modest means to afford housing in NYC," said Emilio Dorcely, President & CEO, Bridge Street Development Corporation.
"We at the Staten Island Center for Independent Living are very happy about the Mayor's Housing Initiative and the funding we recieved through the New York City Council," said John Mastellone, Executive Director of Staten Island Center for Independent Living. "Many of the individuals with disabilities that we serve are in desperate need of affordable housing and it is our hope that this initiative will go a long way towards assisting them in reaching their goal of being able to live comfortably in their own communities."
The following organizations received HPI funding for FY2015: Asian Americans for Equality; Good Old Lower East Side, Inc.; Urban Justice Center; Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation; Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation; West Harlem Group Assistance; Neighborhood Initiatives Development Corp.; New Settlement Apartments; Belmont Arthur Avenue Local Development Organization; MHANY Management, Inc.; Neighborhood Housing Services of Jamaica; Margaret Community Corporation; Churches United for Fair Housing; Pratt Area Community Council; Bridge Street Development Corporation; Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation; Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council; Neighbors Helping Neighbors; Fifth Avenue Committee; Neighborhood Housing Services of East Flatbush; El Barrio's Operation Fightback; Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation; West Bronx Housing and Neighborhood Resource Center, Inc; Make the Road NY Queens Community House; Neighborhood Housing Services North Bronx; Chhaya CDC; St Nicks Alliance; Brooklyn Housing and Family Services; Agudath Israel of America Community Services, Inc; Catholic Migration Services; Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island; Northfield Community LDC
The following organizations received CCC funding for FY2015: Belmont Arthur Avenue Local Development Organization; Bridge Street Development Corporation; Brighton Neighborhood Association, Inc.; Brooklyn Housing and Family Services, Inc.; Central Astoria Local Development Coalition, Inc.; Clinton Housing Development Company, Inc.; Community League of the Heights, Inc.; El Barrio Operation Fight Back, Inc.; Eviction Intervention Services Homelessness Prevention, Inc.; Good Old Lower East Side, Inc.; Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation; Greater Ridgewood Restoration Corporation; Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, Inc.; Housing Conservation Coordinators, Inc.; Housing Court Answers, Inc.; Hudson Guild; Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, Inc.; MFY Legal Services, Inc.; Neighborhood Housing Services of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Inc.; Neighborhood Housing Services of Jamaica, Inc.; Neighborhood Housing Services of the North Bronx, Inc.; Neighborhood Housing Services of East Flatbush; Neighborhood Initiatives Development Corporation (NIDC); North Brooklyn Development Corporation; Northfield Community LDC of Staten Island, Inc.; Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition for Sistas and Brothas United; Peoples Firehouse, Inc.; Queens Community House, Inc.; Queensboro Council for Social Welfare, Inc.; Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, Inc.; Staten Island Center for Independent Living, Inc.; Strycker's Bay Neighborhood Council, Inc.; United Jewish Council of the East Side, Inc.; Urban Justice Center; West Bronx Housing and Neighborhood Resource Center, Inc.; West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc.; Woodside on the Move, Inc.
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