Today’s Read: The Hourly Wage Needed to Rent a 2-Bedroom Apartment Is Rising Posted on May 31, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone The housing affordability crisis is one of the leading drivers of homelessness. Years of skyrocketing rents and stagnant wages have pushed thousands of New Yorkers to the brink of eviction, with near-record numbers left with no option but the crowded shelter s ..Read More
Old and on the Street: The Graying of America’s Homeless Posted on May 31, 2016 by Adam Nagourney in The New York Times They lean unsteadily on canes and walkers, or roll along the sidewalks of Skid Row here in beat-up wheelchairs, past soiled sleeping bags, swaying tents and piles of garbage. They wander the streets in tattered winter coats, even in the warmth of spring. They ..Read More
Advocates Nervous About State Housing Plan as Albany Session Nears End Posted on May 27, 2016 by Jarrett Murphy in City Limits Housing advocates couldn’t be happier that the state budget passed last month includes an unprecedented amount of money for a 100,000-unit statewide affordable housing plan. Check that. They’d be considerably happier if the governor and legislative ..Read More
Housing Advocates Growing Restless Over Frozen $2 Billion in State Budget Posted on May 26, 2016 by Joe Anuta in Crain's New York Business There are now two separate campaigns urging Albany to release plans for a $2 billion pot of housing money that has sat unused since its inclusion in the state budget. More than 100 affordable-housing organizations have joined the New York Housing Conference in ..Read More
The Hourly Wage Needed to Rent a 2-Bedroom Apartment Is Rising Posted on May 25, 2016 by Tanvi Misra in CityLab In 2015, the demand for rental apartments reached its highest level ever since the 1960s. The pinched access to mortgage credit after the Great Recession is one reason why. Another is that many Americans—especially the poor and people of color—haven’t fe ..Read More
The Top 5 Neighborhoods That Are Becoming Unaffordable to Locals Posted on May 27, 2016 by Amy Zimmer in DNAinfo When it comes to neighborhoods where residents face the biggest challenge of affording to stay in their homes, The Bronx is home to the top five of them, according to an analysis from a housing advocacy group released Thursday. Residents in the University Heig ..Read More
Supportive Housing Push Launched for MOU Posted on May 25, 2016 by Nick Reisman in State of Politics A coalition of groups backing an expansion of supportive housing units for the homeless has launched an email campaign to push Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan to sign on to a memorandum of understanding ..Read More
For Some Prisoners, Finishing Their Sentences Doesn’t Mean They Get Out Posted on May 24, 2016 by Christie Thompson in The Marshall Project After serving a year and two months for a probation violation, Landreaux Yantz should have been able to walk out of a New York state prison on June 26, 2015. But officials would not let him leave. “When I laid in my bed every night I was thinking, ‘I’m f ..Read More
Tell Albany to Act Now Posted on May 25, 2016 Over four months ago the Governor announced a commitment to build 20,000 units of supportive housing for homeless New Yorkers across the state, but so far not one penny has been spent to meet this urgent goal. Right now, all that is preventing the State fro ..Read More