Maka Cham testifies in support of tax for accessible housing

Mabachi Thiam and then Alison Klempp.

You may begin.

Hello everyone, my name is Maka Cham.

I'm the Housing and Health Community Organizer at the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York.

We advocate for people with disabilities in the five boroughs of New York City.

And we thank you, Chair Lee.

Thank you, Chair Brewer, for giving us the opportunity to testify today.

So we strongly support the PRR tax surcharge,

and that is why we appreciate the city's effort to implement the PRR tax surcharge on rich homeowners with a couple of cars to address affordable and accessible housing challenges.

It is very disturbing to see that the mayor's administration did not show up to reply to our questions.

I am asking the Mamdani administration to establish a solid percentage for disability housing investment using PRR.

The city should increase the number of affordable and accessible apartments designed and constructed for people with mobility, vision, and hearing issues.

The current policy requires 7% of certain HPD-HDC finance affordable housing units.

To be set aside for people with disabilities.

The administration should examine whether the increased percentage set aside for people with disabilities is sufficient given the housing needs of New Yorkers.

We are asking the city to collect reliable data on accessible units, vacancies, and applications to identify the unmet demands and then use that information to increase the percentage.

Regarding the transparency of the implementation of peer-to-peer search items, we hope that the administration will be fair and just in enforcing

all the wealthy homeowners who mostly do not live in the secondary home to pay their taxes without any exception and or favoritism.

As it is projected to bring in more than 500 million annually, we are urging the city to strictly dedicate this revenue in more affordable and accessible housing for people with disabilities.

Thank you.

I will submit my written testimony.

I know my time is very limited.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.