Opinion: NYC Needs Land and Housing for People, Not Profit

As the city and state pour subsidies into for-profit evolution that fails to serve those most of in need Region Land Trusts CLTs offer a proven and powerful way to ensure lasting affordability protect tenants and begin to repair longstanding racial and economic injustices Housing advocates rallying Tuesday in lower Manhattan for passage of the Group Land Act in the City Council Photo by Adi Talwar From the South Bronx to East New York and beyond communities are working to reclaim land for populace good take housing off the speculative domain and ensure permanent affordability through neighborhood land trusts CLTs and neighborhood-led progress On Tuesday the City Council held a historic hearing on the District Land Act a groundbreaking slate of bills backed by -plus groups that would enable CLTs and other nonprofits to dramatically expand the supply of deeply and permanently affordable housing in low-income and Black and brown neighborhoods RELATED READING Social Housing Supporters Revive Push to Boost Nonprofit Locality Ownership More than tenants and area groups testified in backing of the bills which include the Region Opportunity to Purchase Act Intro giving CLTs and other qualified nonprofits a first right to purchase multifamily buildings when landlords sell as well as Population Land for General Good Intro requiring the city to prioritize CLTs and other nonprofits in population land dispositions The package also includes a resolution calling on New York State to enact the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act Together these bills represent a bold shift toward society stewardship equity and long-term housing stability The need for such a shift couldn t be clearer or more urgent In the modern day more than half of Black and Latino New Yorkers face housing insecurity the development of decades of disinvestment displacement and speculative enhancement As the city and state pour subsidies into for-profit expansion that fails to serve those most of in need CLTs offer a proven and powerful way to ensure lasting affordability protect tenants and begin to repair longstanding racial and economic injustices Neighborhood land trusts are nonprofit community-governed organizations that own and steward land for the society good Rooted in civil rights movements CLTs represent a powerful approach to taking land and housing off the speculative area preventing displacement and advancing society self-determination In latest years the CLT movement has grown by leaps and bounds from just two CLTs a decade ago to more than in contemporary times operating in every borough New York City s CLTs now steward more than permanently affordable rentals and shared equity cooperatives as well as green spaces affordable retail storefronts group and commercial hubs and more Among the movement s new wins Last year the East New York CLT worked with organized tenants to purchase their -unit apartment building from a neglectful landlord the first purchase of its kind by a CLT in New York City The CLT is now coordinating with tenants to make long-overdue repairs and convert the building into a tenant-owned affordable cooperative After a decade of sustained advocacy in the South Bronx the Mott Haven Port Morris Society Land Stewards secured rights in to transform an abandoned city-owned property into a Medical Mentoring and Arts HEArts Center The CLT is also waging a campaign to ensure an accessible waterfront in an environmental justice population that lacks healthy green spaces and where one in five children suffers from asthma On a Queens peninsula devastated by Hurricane Sandy the ReAL Edgemere CLT was selected to redevelop vacant city lots for climate-resilient affordable homeownership and open space The grassroots CLT is engaging area residents a great number of of whom live in general housing through a robust and inclusive public planning process Cooper Square CLT New York s veteran CLT formed in has long stewarded more than deeply affordable apartments on Manhattan s Lower East Side Now the CLT is organizing tenants in two rent-stabilized buildings it rescued from tax foreclosure Northwest Bronx District and Clergy Coalition launched the Bronx CLT in to build shared wealth and collective governance over Bronx land In addition to other population ownership wins NWBCCC has secured commitments for four sites in the Belmont neighborhood that the CLT will preserve as permanently affordable cooperative housing Borne out of activist opposition to Amazon s planned headquarters in Long Island City Queens the Western Queens CLT is as of now focused on securing rights to the same site a square foot publicly owned Dept of Guidance building in Long Island City to create manufacturing jobs an immigrant street vendor commissary and artist and neighborhood spaces This Land Is Ours CLT formed in contributed to a triumphant bid to the NY Archdiocese that will develop a decommissioned religious property into more than newly constructed affordable apartments The CLT also is working to acquire and convert two city-owned parking lots to permanently affordable low-income apartments for families and seniors Even with these and other gains the city s CLTs face steep blockades to scaling up chief among them access to land and capital The Society Land Act would begin to change that By giving CLTs a first right to purchase buildings when landlords sell COPA would enable communities to intervene before speculators swoop in Meanwhile Masses Land for Constituents Good would empower CLTs to transform vacant constituents land- a precious supply into truly affordable housing vibrant district and green spaces and more The City Council has taken initial policies to foster the progress of New York s CLT movement including by funding CLT mentoring organizing and technical assistance in the city budget since Groups have leveraged modest funding awards to deliver outsized results building deep bases of advocacy in their communities acquiring and rehabilitating their first properties partnering with mission-aligned developers and much more We now need New York City to go all in on its advocacy for CLTs through robust funding and procedures promotion that enables them to seize opportunities to bring land and housing into neighborhood control The District Land Act is an essential step forward The city s deepening housing emergency demands bold systemic solutions CLTs are already showing what s achievable ensuring real affordability preventing displacement and putting land in district hands Beyond just building more communities are organizing through CLTs to ensure land and housing are developed and stewarded over generations for the constituents good Deyanira Del R o is executive director of New Economic activity Project Matthew Shore is senior organizer at South Bronx Unite and a member of the Mott Haven-Port Morris Region Land Stewards Brianna Soleyn is a board member of the East New York District Land Trust The 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