New York is in a Housing Crisis.
More than a third of New York City renters are severely rent burdened, paying more than half their incomes on rent.
Black and Brown families, essential workers, and seniors are being forced out of the city they love because they can no longer afford to live here.
Clergy and lay leaders from Queens and Brooklyn went to Governor Hochul’s Manhattan Office on the morning of November 1 to urge the governor to use executive power to support building a 100% affordable community with homeownership opportunities at the state-owned Creedmoor site in Queens.
Together, leaders presented a letter signed by scores of faith leaders across NYC who support Public Land for Public Good - a grassroots movement of faith leaders, community organizations, renters, and homeowners from across New York City that is demanding a real solution for affordability in New York.
Faith leaders believe that Creedmoor is an opportunity for real change.
Governor Hochul made a public promise to use all the tools at her disposal to address the housing crisis – including the utilization of state-owned land. As people of faith, it is urgent that we advocate for the dignity of all people - including their basic human right to housing. Governor Hochul can deliver sorely needed affordable housing for New Yorkers via executive action.
Pictured top: The Rev. Tom Cleary (Redeemer, Astoria), the Rev. Carl Adair (Zion, Douglaston), the Rev. Jean-Pierre Seguin (Grace and Resurrection, East Elmhurst), the Rev. Leandra Lambert (Grace, Brooklyn Heights), and the Rev. Lindsay Lunnum (Zion, Douglaston).
Pictured left: The Rev. Lindsay Lunnum (Zion, Douglaston), the Rev. Leandra Lambert (Grace, Brooklyn Heights), and Mary Beth Welsh (Zion, Douglaston and Episcopal Ministries of Long Island).
The movement is convinced that affordable housing at Creedmoor can be a success modeled after Nehemiah Homes. Starting in the early 1980’s, unprecedented city subsidies were invested into the construction of affordable housing, known as Nehemiah homes, on state-owned land.
Four decades later, this investment has proven successful against the test of time as Nehemiah Homes created helped everyday New Yorkers become homeowners of homes that have increased – creating equity and wealth that can be passed down to the next generation.
Most recently, Metro IAF NY transformed the Spring Creek area of Brooklyn from an underutilized wetland to a thriving mixed-use community with schools, stores, and over 2,600 homes and apartments where low- and middle-income New Yorkers can afford to live.