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Candidates for City Council Speaker
Line Up
on Affordable Housing Issues
by Selwa Habib
City Council members seeking to succeed Gifford Miller as Speaker were
pushed, recently, to declare themselves on affordable housing. Each took
a stance in favor, as could be expected, with only subtle differences
separating them.
For Roosevelt Islanders concerned about the future of their housing, the
views of the new Council Speaker – or of the entire Council – have
little direct effect. But how hard they push for lower-cost housing –
what priority they give it – could influence the climate here, and could
influence the options available to any Islander who finds s/he must seek
shelter somewhere other than Roosevelt Island.
(The Board of Directors of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation [RIOC]
has said it intends to use its power over ground leases to sustain an
affordable climate here, at least for current residents of affordable
apartments.)
In a public meeting of over 1,000 tenants from all five boroughs,
Housing Here & Now (HHN), a broad-based coalition of 120 unions, clergy,
community-based organizations and advocates, put questions to
Councilmembers. Four Speaker candidates participated: Bill DiBlasio of
Brooklyn, Christine Quinn of Manhattan, Joel Rivera of the Bronx, and
David Weprin of Queens.
The Forum raised these issues:
- The use of the Battery Park City revenues to
build and preserve affordable housing, as once promised by New York
City Authority;
- A guarantee of housing for low- and
moderate-income people in rezoned neighborhoods;
- Support for legislation to strengthen tenant
rights to healthy homes;
- Permanent housing for homeless people and
those living with HIV/AIDS.
And the item of most interest to Roosevelt
Islanders:
- Win back New York City’s right to pass
and administer its own rent laws, which are currently under the
control of the State Legislature.
As in the case of other Island housing
issues, this last item is likely to affect the City-wide hosuing
climate more than it will affect the Island directly. But a
strong home-rule push under a new Governor – possibly a Democrat
in tune with City Council goals – might eventually have some
peripheral effect here.
All four Speaker candidates came out in favor of seeing that
Battery Park City (BPC) revenue goes into creation of future
affordable housing. Rivera would go a step further, and seek to
recoup BPC income that has already leaked out of the
affordable-housing program. DeBlasio called for a grass-roots
campaign on the matter.
All the candidates aligned themselves with HNN’s goals for
healthy homes, housing for the homeless, affordable housing in
rezoned areas, and home rule on rent laws. |
