FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 16, 2024
Contact:Will Spisak, 347-804-8906, will@neweconomynyc.org
Community Groups Deliver Over 1,000 Holiday “Gifts” to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams: Personally Signed Postcards Urging Her to Pass the Community Land Act
Amid housing crisis, action highlights urgent need for deep affordability and community control of land and housing
New York, NY -On Monday afternoon, community groups delivered over 1,000 postcards—symbolically presented as festive “gifts”—to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, from tenants and community members in all five boroughs. Each personally signed postcard calls on Speaker Adams to swiftly bring the Community Land Act to a vote.
“With more than 350,000 New Yorkers without homes during this holiday season, the time for bold action is now,” said Elise Goldin, Campaign Organizer at New Economy Project, which coordinates the NYC Community Land Initiative, the coalition spearheading the effort. “We call on Speaker Adams and the City Council to pass the Community Land Act to expand the supply of deeply-affordable, community-controlled housing New Yorkers desperately need.”
The Community Land Act is a package of City Council bills that would give community land trusts (CLTs) and other nonprofits tools to expand permanently affordable, community-controlled housing and community spaces in Black and brown neighborhoods.
The groups, including New Economy Project, ReAL Edgemere CLT, and Housing Conservation Coordinators, delivered the postcards in holiday gift bags to Speaker Adams’ District Office in Jamaica, Queens. Wearing Santa hats, the advocates caroled to seasonal songs, including a version of “Deck the Halls” that called for passing the Community Land Act:
Pass the Com-mu-ni-ty Land Act, fa la la la la, la la la la,
‘Tis the season to give land back, fa la la la la, la la la la,
Homes for people, not for profit, fa la la la, la la la, la la la,
Speculation, we can stop it, fa la la la la, la la la la!
“Right here in Queens, our community land trust is proving it’s possible to take land off the speculative market and develop deeply affordable homes and community spaces, all while putting people over profit,” said Doug McPherson, Interim Manager of the ReAL Edgemere Community Land Trust in the Rockaways. “Let’s pass the Community Land Act to give all NYC’s CLTs the tools they need to bring land into community control.”
The Community Land Act includes the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (Intro 902), which would give CLTs and other nonprofits a first right to purchase multifamily buildings when a landlord sells. It also includes the Public Land for Public Good Act (Intro 78), which would require the city to prioritize CLTs and other nonprofits in public land dispositions.
“Every year, hundreds of thousands of violations of housing law are issued in NYC while millions of renters are severely rent-burdened,” said Mark Natanawan, Tenant Organizer at Housing Conservation Coordinators. “We need to fix up run-down apartment buildings across the city and tackle the affordability crisis by investing in and supporting community-owned, nonprofit-operated housing. We urge the Speaker to pass the widely supported Community Land Act!”
The legislative package would build on and fuel the work of more than 20 CLTs—and counting—across all five boroughs, facilitating neighborhood-led development, combating real estate speculation and displacement, and preserving deeply affordable housing. Last year, about two-thirds of City Council Members, including Speaker Adams, co-sponsored Community Land Act bills.
“Groups like the NWBCCC and Bronx CLT are already demonstrating the power of community-driven development to provide deeply and permanently affordable housing through our new construction and preservation projects,” said Todd Baker, Community Development Project Manager at Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition. “The Community Land Act provides the policy framework necessary to scale projects like these across the Bronx and beyond. This is the kind of transformative approach that our neighbors need and deserve.”
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