Five Queens CMs have yet to support homeless housing bill
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Bronx Councilmember Rafael Salamanca introduced the bill that would force affordable housing developers who receive city funding to set aside 15 percent of units for people in homeless shelters. Photo by William Alatriste/City Council Flickr
By David Brand
A City Council bill that would significantly increase the number of new apartments built for people experiencing homeless in New York City has strong majority support and seems poised to pass in a vote Dec. 19 — even though five Queens councilmembers have yet to sign onto the measure or say whether they will support it.
The bill, championed by advocates for the homeless, would address the city’s historic homelessness crisis by forcing affordable housing developers who receive city funding to reserve 15 percent of the units for people in homeless shelters. A total of 36 councilmembers have so far signed on as bill sponsors.
Three Queens Councilmembers — Daniel Dromm, Peter Koo and Paul Vallone — say they are still undecided, however. Councilmember Barry Grodenchik has not signed on as a sponsor of the bill and did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Councilmember I. Daneek Miller called the need to improve access to affordable housing “central to rolling back the tide of homelessness,” but said he has not supported the bill because he is concerned that his Southeast Queens district would receive a disproportionate number of units for homeless New Yorkers.
“We must be cautious to not further the trend of forcing less affluent and historically underdeveloped communities to serve as hosts for the majority of our homeless while more ‘established’ neighborhoods are spared from doing their fair share to help combat this crisis,” Miller said. “Nonetheless, if this trend does continue, as always we are ready and willing to take care of our own.”
More than 130,000 New Yorkers experienced homelessness at some point last year, including roughly 60,000 people who stay in Department of Homeless Services shelters each night — most of whom are black or Latino families headed by single mothers.
The measure would apply to buildings with 40 or more units and could create 1,000 new apartments a year for homeless New Yorkers.
Eight Queens councilmembers — Adrienne Adams, Costa Constantinides, Rory Lancman, Francisco Moya, Antonio Reynoso, Donovan Richards, Eric Ulrich and Jimmy Van Bramer — had co-sponsored the bill in recent weeks.
“Having this set-aside is only a logical step to moving families out of shelter,” Constantinides said. “The only way we are going to end homelessness is to create housing for those who need it [and] if we don’t do that, the homeless crisis is only going to continue.”
On Friday, Councilmember Robert Holden, an outspoken critic of the city’s homeless shelter policy, told the Eagle he also plans to vote in favor of the housing bill at the Council’s next stated meeting. He co-sponsored the bill Friday afternoon.
Councilmember Karen Koslowitz will also sponsor the bill, her spokesperson said Friday.
The 15 percent set-aside will make a big impact for addressing homelessnes while affecting a relatively small number of units in large complexes, said New Destiny Housing Executive Director Carol Corden. New Destiny Housing, a nonprofit, develops affordable housing for survivors of domestic violence and their families.
“It seems fair to me, given the crisis that New York City has with homelessness, that city dollars and tax dollars be used to address the needs of extremely low-income people in NYC — really the most vulnerable people in the city,” Corden said.
Still, she said, the units must be built large enough to accommodate families that make up the bulk of the homeless population, come with additional social services and be open to people in domestic violence shelters — not just DHS shelters.
“We hope that this housing will be sized in such a way that homeless families, who make up 70 percent of people in temporary housing, will have access to that,” she said.
