Chair Sanchez outlines four areas of questioning: capacity, preservation, homelessness, accountability
Sanchez calls on the administration to explain implementation details beyond the plan's pages, outlining four questioning areas: agency staffing capacity, preservation strategy distinguishing high-road from low-road landlords, homelessness and voucher programs, and accountability benchmarks. She also notes concern about climate resilience gaps in the plan.
But New Yorkers have heard ambitious promises before.
We have celebrated production targets before, and too often when we look back at what was actually produced, preserved, or made affordable for our lowest-income neighbors, government actually fell painfully short of the moment.
So today, members of the administration, I ask you to...
Give us reason to believe.
Explain to us what you could not fit on the 120 pages of block by block or the 70 pages of the rental ripoff report or the 40 pages of the speed report and more.
How will you implement these promises?
My questions will begin in four places.
First, capacity.
A bold housing plan cannot be implemented by understaffed agencies.
If we promise stronger code enforcement, roof-to-cellar inspections, emergency repairs, aggressive litigation and preservation,
then HPD and Department of Buildings need the inspectors, attorneys, preservation staff, and institutional capacity to deliver.
Second, with respect to preservation, some of our most affordable housing is also our oldest and our most distressed.
We need a government capable of intervening before buildings collapse into crisis.
That means capital and support for responsible owners trying to keep buildings affordable and escalating enforcement against owners who chronically endanger tenants.
So what is your distinction between high road and low road?
Landlords mean in practice.
This council represents tenants, but it also represents responsible owners, all New Yorkers.
The effect of the rental arrears crisis for landlords is real.
Housing court delays are real.
Cash flow problems can destabilize otherwise responsible affordable buildings, including affordable co-ops, rent-stabilized housing, and regulated housing.
We need a preservation strategy sophisticated enough to recognize those realities.
As well.
Third, on homelessness, we spend billions of dollars every year operating a shelter system while families desperately search for permanent homes.
In discussing an all-of-the-above approach, the plan does not speak comprehensively to the many housing voucher programs in New York City.
FEPS, HAVP, Section 8, the newly created CHAP.
I'm going to do that every time I say it.
I'm really glad we didn't go with crap.
Okay.
City Rental Assistance Program.
Okay.
And our other housing resources that could move us towards something bigger, preventing homelessness before it happens.
And finally, accountability.
Plans are only as meaningful as what happens next, so we want the implementation schedules, the measurable benchmarks, and clarity about who to hold responsible if any of the plans fall behind.
I personally, of course, I'm excited to see a focus on the Bronx.
I also have to mention that I'm concerned about the lack of mention of climate resilience throughout these plans and hope that these preservation and enforcement commitments can work together to address any gaps that we talk about today.