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The incomes of low-income New Yorkers have not kept pace with rapidly rising rents. Two-thirds of poor New Yorkers and over one-third of near poor households - up to twice the poverty level - spend at least half of their incomes on rent. These extraordinary rent-income pressures have a destabilizing effect on poor communities and place millions of low-income New Yorkers at risk of housing hardships and displacement. The CSS Housing Policy Unit conducts strategic research and advocacy to promote housing policies that ensure the economic security of low-income, working New Yorkers. Staff also provide technical and policy assistance to strengthen the capacity of resident, community, and other advocacy organizations to address these issues.
Major concerns focus on:
- preservation of existing, affordable housing resources (public housing, Mitchell-Lama, and HUD-subsidized housing);
- policies that address the growing affordability crisis (rent regulation and rent assistance); and
- strengthening the capacity of grass-roots organizations to voice their interests and influence housing policy decisions.
Periodic research reports update the state of the city’s subsidized housing resources and track rent burdens and housing hardships among low-income New Yorkers. Reports and data are used by other organizations as ammunition in their policy efforts. The unit also provides ally organizations with fast-response data analyses on emerging housing issues. Reports on the housing experience of key constituencies, including immigrants and racial/ethnic minorities, are underway.
Victor Bach, Ph.D.
Director, Housing Research212.614.5492
vbach@cssny.org
Thomas J. Waters
Senior Housing Analyst212.614.5366
twaters@cssny.org
Testimony before New York City Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) Hearings