NCBA - National Cooperative Business Association
09/18/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/17/2024 19:42
City and State interviews coalition urging policymakers to carve out $3.6 billion for affordable co-op housing in NYC
New York City Mayor Eric Adams hosts a rally in support of the housing component in his City of Yes plan in April 2024. [photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office]A multistakeholder coalition of organizations and businesses is working to secure common-sense reforms to alleviate New York City's affordable housing crisis. They're calling for what National Cooperative Bank called a "small, but impactful carve out" of funding to create homeownership opportunities meant to address "racial equity disparities in some of the city's most affluent and segregated neighborhoods."
The coalition formed last summer following Mayor Eric Adams' announcement to commit $24 billion to develop affordable housing across the five boroughs. The coalition is urging policymakers to reserve $3.6 billion, or 15 percent, of those funds to create permanently affordable cooperative housing in Manhattan Midtown South by converting existing vacant office space for residential use. The group includes National Cooperative Bank, Amalgamated Bank, NCBA CLUSA, Cooperative Development Foundation, Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, Mutualist Society, Inclusiv and is coordinated by 1worker1vote.
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"Converting unoccupied commercial real estate to affordable, shared equity housing is a win-win for New York City," said Casey Fannon, president and CEO of National Cooperative Bank. "Many residents are displaced from living where they work. By providing access to affordable housing, residents will help stabilize the local economy, strengthen the civic infrastructure and anchor populations of workers who pay taxes and plan to stay in NYC."
City and State, a media organization that covers New York's local and state politics and policy, recently interviewed representatives of the coalition advocating to include co-ops in the mayor's housing proposal, including Andy Reicher, former executive director of the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board; and John Holdsclaw IV, executive vice president and chief policy officer at National Cooperative Bank.