From the Housing First! website:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered his first major housing policy address, Tuesday December 10th at the 29th Annual Luncheon of the New York/National Housing Conference. The Mayor committed the city to a comprehensive five year production and preservation initiative. Despite tough fiscal times, the Mayor acknowledged the importance of public investment to meeting the city's housing needs. He also charted a set of administrative and regulatory reforms that will make it faster cheaper and easier to build in the city. The Mayor said:

"We're the world's second home -- a magnet for people who want to build better lives for themselves and their families."

"That new generation of ambitious and hard-working New Yorkers, want just what my parents struggled to achieve, and what all parents want for their kids: the security that only good living accommodations in safe and stable neighborhoods can provide."

"Without these homes and neighborhoods, New York will lose these people -- and lose its future. That's why affordable housing is fundamental to our long-term economic prosperity."

A broad range of New York City groups has joined together to form the Housing First! coalition to call upon the City of New York to committ to a 10 year capital investment of $1 billion per year to create 100,000 new housing units and preserve hundeds of thousands more. According to the group, the City currently spends less than half of what it did a decade ago to build and preserve affordable housing.

The coalition, whose motto is “Affordable Housing for All New Yorkers,” is a collaborative effort or non-profit and for-profit housing developers, business and financial institutions (such as JPMorganChase and Fannie Mae), advocates and community-based organizations, (including the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and ACORN).

The platform statement of Housing First! addresses many aspects of New York’s affordable housing crisis, including the fact that more than a fourth of all renters pay more than half their income on rent. It also addresses the connection between the housing crisis and chronic health problems and quality education.

The $10 billion comprehensive solution to the crisis would build on a number of principles, including: programs that create not only housing but safe, sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods; a combination of rental, homeownership, co-op, and employer assisted housing developments through renovation and new construction with use of public and private investments; a balanced and targeted program to address the needs of very-low income through middle income families including supportive housing for the homeless; and a substanial committment of City Capital funds, as well as other common sense reforms.

The group recently held a rally Decembe 5 at City Hall. For more information, or to join the coalition, visit the Housing First! website at www.housingfirst.net or email info@housingfirst.net.

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