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Federal Court Certifies Class Action Lawsuit Alleging NYC Transit Authority Seized Tax Refunds to Collect on Decades-Old Default Judgments, Violating Due Process
Yesterday, a federal judge certified a class action charging the NYC Transit Authority, an arm of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), with systemic due process violations. The civil rights lawsuit challenges the Transit Authority’s unlawful seizures of New Yorkers’ state tax refunds to collect on default judgments—some going back 20 years or more—without providing legally-required notice or a fair…
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Fortune: What the Unbanked Need From the 2020 Election
Fortune — Over 6% of Americans—20.5 million people—are unbanked, according to the FDIC’s latest data, meaning they have no checking or savings account. Nearly 50 million more are underbanked: They have at least one bank account but still use alternative financial services like payday loans and check cashers outside the banking system.
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City Limits: Council Bills Could Pave the Way for a Public Bank in NYC
City Limits — The City Council is considering measures that would scrutinize the city’s relationship with corporate banks and other financial entities—disclosures that could pave the pathway to creating a municipal public bank in the future.
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Local Electeds, Groups, Call for Public Bank to Strengthen NYC Neighborhoods, Advance Racial and Economic Justice in Wake of Pandemic
Today, a citywide coalition of labor and community groups and community-based financial institutions joined with NYS Senators, Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams, and NYC Council Members to call for the creation of a public bank in NYC.
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From NYC to California, Communities Take Control of Land
From coast to coast, a growing number of community land trusts (CLTs) are creating deeply-affordable housing, preventing displacement, and advancing self-determination in Black and brown communities. As the COVID-19 crisis exacerbates racial and economic inequality, and leaves millions at risk of eviction and homelessness, this work is more urgent than ever.
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News Release: NY/NJ Banking Committee Chairs, Groups, Decry Trump Proposal to Unleash Payday Lending
Today, chairs of New York and New Jersey’s Senate and Assembly banking committees and community leaders blasted the Trump administration’s proposal to allow predatory lenders to circumvent state usury laws and contravene the authority of state elected officials.
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(Archive) Stop Trump Administration from Unleashing Predatory Payday Lending in NY
New York has successfully fought to keep predatory payday lending out of our state, as a matter of racial and economic justice. Now, the Trump administration is seeking to gut New York’s longstanding consumer protection laws, and open the door to high-cost lenders that exploit people who are struggling financially.
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News Release: NYC and Rochester Council Members Join 55 Groups in Urging Albany to Support Public Banks
Fifteen Members of the NYC Council delivered a letter last week urging the NYS Legislature to pass the New York Public Banking Act (S.5565-C/A.9665-D), a groundbreaking bill that creates a pathway for New York cities, counties and regions to form public banks—financial institutions established by local governments and chartered to serve the public interest.
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Shelterforce: Giving Tenants the First Opportunity to Purchase Their Homes
Shelterforce — As state and local economies attempt to reopen, and eviction moratoriums expire, millions of Americans once again face losing their homes. While these moratoriums have temporarily protected renters who may be unemployed and unable to pay rent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, elected officials are waking up to the reality that additional, far-reaching…
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(Archive) Tell Albany to Pass the NY Public Banking Act
Even before COVID-19 gripped our communities, New York faced extreme racial and economic inequality. Now, against the backdrop of a pandemic that has further devastated low-income and Black and brown communities, the New York State Legislature is preparing to reconvene next week, for what could be the last time this year.
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City Limits: Advocates: NYC Needs More Money, New Model to Meet Housing Crisis
City Limits — Housing advocates and elected officials released a new plan Thursday which calls on the de Blasio administration and City Council to support more development of community land trusts, maintain tenant protections, restore the city’s affordable housing budget and create new a path to homeownership.
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Gotham Gazette, Op-Ed: With Mass Evictions and Real Estate Speculation Looming, City and State Leaders Must Give Communities Opportunity to Own Their Own Land
Gotham Gazette — In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York faces two new fronts in its housing crisis — a wave of heightened speculation likely to destabilize communities and an onslaught of expected evictions as housing courts reopen.