Resources
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Statement From Coalition Of 200+ Community And Affordable Housing Organizations On Passage Of The Community Opportunity To Purchase Act (COPA)
We applaud the City Council for passing Int. 902-B, the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA), following years of public discussion and technical development with affordable housing developers and experts, tenant organizations, and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, among other stakeholders.
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Statement on Passage of the FAIR Business Practices Act
“New Economy Project is deeply dismayed that Albany caved to the business lobby and passed a watered-down version of the FAIR Business Practices Act. At a time when the Trump administration continues to dismantle vital federal consumer protections, New York had the opportunity to lead—but Albany once again failed to meet the moment.
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Testimony Before the NYC Council Committee on Housing and Buildings, in Support of the Community Land Act
More than 20 CLTs are organizing across the five boroughs—up from just two CLTs a decade ago. Through CLTs, communities collectively own and steward land, ensuring it is used for permanently affordable housing and other critical needs. CLTs are a flexible, proven model to protect public subsidy in affordable housing and advance neighborhood-led development without…
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Public Banks for Racial Equity: Democratizing Finance to Build Community Wealth
Growing support for public banking presents an opportunity for a transformative shift. Public banks — created by state or local governments and chartered to serve the public interest—can manage public deposits and partner with local lenders to make loans and investments in underserved communities and sectors.
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$500 Million and Counting: How Unchecked Payday Loan Apps Are Draining New Yorkers’ Paychecks
New Economy Project estimates that payday loan apps have siphoned over half a billion dollars in deceptive fees from New Yorkers’ paychecks since 2019.
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Letter to Governor Hochul on Payday Loan Apps’ Usurious Rates
We write to bring to your immediate attention the alarming rise of payday loan apps that exploit working New Yorkers, extracting over half a billion dollars in predatory fees from their paychecks since 2019, according to a New Economy Project analysis (see attached).
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Memorandum in Opposition to S3332 (Cooney)/A258 (Vanel)
New Economy Project vehemently opposes S3332/A258, a blatant attempt to eviscerate New York’s usury laws and sanction predatory lending under the sham pretense of regulating so-called earned wage access (EWA) services. This bill is a gift to Big Tech predators, weakening longstanding consumer and worker protections and opening the floodgates to a new breed of…
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Testimony Before the NYS Senate Banks Committee on “Is There Discrimination in the New York Home Mortgage Banking Industry?”
Good afternoon, Chair Sanders, Members of the Banks Committee, and esteemed legislators. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of New Economy Project, a New York City-based economic justice organization. For 30 years, New Economy Project has worked with community groups and low-income New Yorkers to challenge bank redlining, predatory lending and…
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Testimony Before NYS Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA)
We urge the legislature to pass the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (TOPA) Act in the state budget, along with an annual appropriation of $250 million to fund TOPA acquisitions and technical assistance. TOPA (S.401) would give tenants a first opportunity to collectively buy their building when a landlord sells, in order to stabilize and preserve…
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Statement: Groups Condemn Trump’s Dismantling of CFPB, Call on NY Leaders to Act
The 50+ member organizations of the NYS Community Equity Agenda, representing hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers statewide, made the following statement responding to the Trump Administration’s assault on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)—and urging New York leaders to take bold action to protect New Yorkers and New York communities from financial exploitation