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The last time NYC faced a cataclysmic economic threat, privatization set us on a path of rampant inequality. But there are more promising lessons in our history too. Brooklyn Navy Yard & Penn South point the way to combining growth + equity. My NYT Op-Ed: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/opinion/new-york-housing-stores-land-banks.html
The @BklynNavyYard is an amazing story. Instead of being sold for scrap or converted to condos, there are 500 companies employing 11,000 people in good jobs. Listen to their CEO David Ehrenberg on how it happened: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YGbcIfhJtiL2fbcombSbINJeZHjItw0J/view
When COVID-19 hit, the democratically-owned affordable housing cooperative at Penn South moved to social distancing a week before the rest of the city. Social solidarity can literally save lives. https://www.habitatmag.com/Publication-Content/Building-Operations/2020/2020-April/How-Massive-Penn-South-Co-op-Is-Coping-With-a-Massive-Threat
The connecting thread between the Navy Yard and Penn South is “social ownership.” So instead of letting properties that fall into distress through the pandemic get auctioned off or sold to vulture funds, NYC should acquire & put them to public purpose.
Thanks to the leadership of UHAB aka @NYCHomesteading and @MitchellLama United, NYC has 90,000 limited-equity coops, one of the very few sources of affordable homeownership for working families. We can preserve these & create many more. https://urbanomnibus.net/2018/01/limited-equity-co-ops/
To be very clear: First priority is to prevent a mass eviction epidemic. Follow @housing4allNY and join in the campaigns for a real eviction moratorium + rent relief. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-evictions-superspreader.html
And for small businesses, we should move quickly to adopt the “Small Business Recovery Lease” program that @BrianKavanaghNY @yuhline @KeithPowersNYC @BrooklynChamber and I have proposed. Small businesses need a lifeline. https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/in-the-news/brian-kavanagh/kavanagh-niou-lander-powers-op-ed-crains-ny-small-businesses
But where properties fall into distress, we should pass my bill to create a NYC land bank, and work w/NYC’s community land trusts, as @CarlinaRivera and @DRichards13 argue here. https://citylimits.org/2019/06/10/opinion-city-must-invest-in-bold-housing-solutions-like-community-land-trusts/
Before the pandemic, this report from @NYCComptroller found that a land bank could generate nearly 60,000 units of truly & permanently affordable housing. The opportunity & need will be so much larger in the days ahead. https://on.nyc.gov/3jEJ0wA
After the Great Recession, gov’t policy spurred a $36B feeding frenzy by private equity. They converted so many homes into market-rate, investor-owned rental housing that they decreased the US homeownership rate. We must act differently this time. https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/great-recession-erased-30-years-of-rising-homeownership-rates-gao/582766/#:~:text=The%20report%20found%20the%20national,and%20community%20investment%20at%20GAO.
The grounding principle of NYC’s economic recovery must be long-term investments in affordable housing + jobs that bring genuinely shared, equitable growth. We should be clear-eyed about the challenges. But that’s the path forward. https://www.landerfornyc.com/just-recovery
