Joseph explains aye vote, citing District 40 housing conditions
Councilmember Rita C. Joseph asks to explain her vote and recalls telling District 40 tenants in January that the COPA fight was not over. She describes no-heat, mold, and repair complaints in Flatbush, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Ditmas Park, and Crown Heights, arguing COPA breaks the cycle of distressed buildings being sold to developers.
Permission to explain my vote?
Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
In January, when COPA fell short, I told tenants of District 40 that the fight was not over.
Today, we keep that promise.
I want to thank Councilmember Nurse to never backing down for years of negotiating, listening, and refusing to let this bill die.
Thank you to the tenant organizers, the community land trust, and the advocates who kept showing up.
Thank you to the speaker and the mayor for helping bring COPA home.
Let me tell you why this matter in Flatbush, Prospect, Lefferts Garden, Dittmas Park, and Crown Heights.
My office take calls, no heat in January, molds in babies'bedrooms, ceilings coming down, repairs promised and never made.
Too many of my constituents live in buildings owned by landlords who treat their home as a line on a spreadsheet.
And when those buildings are sold, they are too often go to other developers and the cycle starts all over.
COPA breaks that cycle.
When a distressed building goes up for sale, mission-driven non-for-profits and community land trusts will finally get a fair first shot at buying it and keeping it affordable, safe, and in the hands of the community.
As a forever educator for more than two decades, I learned that children cannot learn without a stable home.
And this is what is at stake for families in these buildings.
And this is why COPA matters.
Housing is not a commodity.
It is a home.
I proudly vote aye.