Press Release
CSS Report: Putting New York On A Path to Social Housing Transformation
New report offers 20 policies to shift housing system from a focus on private profit to public good
As rents reach an all-time high in the city, putting intense pressure on the housing system and creating waves of displacement and gentrification, policymakers have an opportunity to support alternative pathways to establishing stable, permanently affordable housing for low- and middle-income New Yorkers that would not be subject to the worst aspects of speculative real estate investments.
A new Community Service Society (CSS) report, Pathways to Social Housing in New York: 20 Policies to Shift from Private Profit to Public Good, presents a unique set of policy proposals and interventions that would work in tandem to shield tenants and our housing system from the economic impacts of speculative investment while putting New York on a course to social housing transformation. The authors of Pathways to Social Housing hope that the policies, actions and approaches laid out in the report will not only help jumpstart social housing production in New York, but also add to the growing discussion among many housing advocates about challenging real estate’s monopoly over ownership and control of housing.
Over the last few decades, landlords of private rental housing stock in New York have placed heavy financial bets on both deferred maintenance and rising rents, leading to interconnected crises of high rent burdens, widespread evictions and mass homelessness. Accordingly, the report focuses on existing private rental conversions, in particular distressed housing where landlords have been the most predatory or neglectful, as opposed to new social housing development. Pathways argues that a social housing conversion strategy is crucial in cities where developable lots are scarce.
This report looks at four broad aims and offers specifics about how we can reach them: democratic control of housing; financial resources for housing justice; tenants’ rights and protections; and code enforcement and tools for safe conditions. To be successful in this effort, however, the authors argue that policymakers must be prepared to buck historical trends of austerity and predation and embrace an alternative vision of how housing should be owned and operated. Decommodified, democratic and deeply affordable housing should be valued as a stabilizing factor in the lives of the vast majority of New Yorkers and central to our economy.
“Thousands of New Yorkers struggle to pay rents and mortgages, forced to double-up or stay with family, live in shelters, or on the street,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “The for-profit, private-sector housing model is clearly not able to address the steep housing challenges facing our city on its own. The social housing model presents a path forward by redefining housing as a public good. The basic principle is that everyone -- regardless of race, income, or immigration status -- has the right to a decent home. In order for New York to solve its ever-growing housing crisis, Pathways to Social Housing in New York presents twenty clear, actionable policy solutions that take our city and state down the path in the right direction.”
"All New Yorkers, regardless of economic status, deserve a housing system that provides them with good affordable and stable housing,” said Deputy City Council Speaker Diana Ayala. “Empowering tenants with information on their rights, from financial to tenant protection is key to obtaining housing justice. The policy recommendations from Community Service Society's report are a welcomed resource and will be an integral guide as we work to develop policy solutions to the city's housing crisis."
"Since the creation of the New York City Housing Authority in 1934, our city has recognized that public housing and social housing more broadly are essential to meeting the needs of working class New Yorkers," said Public Housing Committee Chair Alexa Avilés. "The Community Service Society's latest report, Pathways to Social Housing, emphasizes concrete strategies to not only protect but to expand housing in the public domain that is democratically controlled. Decommodified housing is what we want, what we need and what we deserve. Our city is in the midst of an affordability crisis, and we need public housing to once again be at the center of a broader social housing agenda."
“Immediately following the eviction moratorium, our housing courts filled with cases so high in number that the Council’s landmark right to counsel legislation has been nearly rendered ineffective, with just six percent of tenants represented in court during one week in September,” said City Council Member Pierina Sanchez. “Meanwhile, rents continue to skyrocket across the city, promoting further instability across neighborhoods. This disconnection between housing instability and prices highlights the need for a reimagining of the frameworks and institutions we employ to house New Yorkers. CSS’ Pathways to Social Housing in New York continues their line of work doing just this, proposing bold interventions that will promote housing stability by calming speculation, building tenant power and enabling for deep affordability. These interventions imagine a community like mine moving from the epicenter of the eviction crisis, to a bastion of housing stability and I look forward to robust debates on these topics.”
City Council Member Gale A. Brewer said, “As a long-time partner of the Community Service Society, I am proud to work together to advance our shared agenda as embodied in this new report. Its timing is critical, as we need every tool at our disposal to address the very challenging housing crisis by creating and preserving affordable housing for lower and middle income New Yorkers. The report highlights my Int. 714-2022, which would create the first ever Land Bank in New York City, buying available properties and work with experienced community land trusts or nonprofit developers to build more affordable housing.”
“We deserve a housing system where every single New Yorker, no matter their level of income, has a comfortable home, on a guaranteed basis,” said City Council Member Tiffany Cabán. “We deserve sustainable, high quality social housing, owned and managed by the people who live there, in conjunction with the public. As long as our housing system is geared toward maximizing profits for developers and rents for landlords, the rich will live wherever they want, and everyone else will live wherever we can. Our city’s median income would need to double in order to afford our city’s median rent, and fully one third of New York renters pay over half of their income in rent. This housing system is intolerable. We need bold policy change. We need to follow CSS’s Pathways to Social Housing in New York.”
“Capitalist property speculation has driven rents to unseen levels in New York City over the past few years. Too many working and middle-class residents have been priced out of neighborhoods their families have lived in for generations so developers can make a quick buck. We need to recognize that housing isn’t a commodity; it’s a public good, ” said City Council Member Shahana Hanif. “The Community Service Society’s report lays out 20 common-sense policies to take housing out of a profit-driven ecosystem to ensure everyone can find an affordable home. These include a number of priorities for the Council’s Progressive Caucus, including a City Land Bank and Community Opportunity to Purchase (COPA). Social housing isn’t just a slogan; it isn't a fundamental rethinking of how we regulate, distribute, and relate to housing in this country. I’m proud to support these recommendations and even to be fighting for housing justice here in New York City.”
"This report could not come at a better time,” said City Council Member Sandy Nurse. “New York City is seeing record rental prices, homelessness, warehousing, and of course tireless speculation. On the other hand, we are seeing a strong and growing housing movement focused on strengthening tenant protections and creating democratically-controlled, permanently affordable housing that promotes equity and stability. Social housing isn't a pipedream; we have the tools to accomplish mass social housing in our City and State. In their Pathways to Social Housing report, the Community Service Society not only provides a roadmap on how to win social housing, but paints a picture of what 'housing for all' could look like."
City Council Member Lincoln Restler said, “We have an affordability crisis in New York City. This urgent Community Service Society report lays out a path forward to begin a new era of social housing transformation in our city that generates the deeply affordable housing stock we desperately need.”
“For decades, the Community Service Society has produced research and advocacy promoting the maintenance and expansion of our state’s social housing stock, including reports and campaigns on public housing, Mitchell Lama, Community Land Trusts, and more,” said David R. Jones, CSS President and CEO. “With Pathways to Social Housing in New York, we are proud to present a bold new chapter in our long campaign for safe, affordable, and stable housing for all New Yorkers.”
“Pathways to Social Housing seeks to integrate policy ideas from various corners of New York’s housing movements into a large-scale vision for social housing conversions,” said CSS Housing Policy Analyst and report co-author Samuel Stein. “This report is not just a compendium of a data and descriptions, but a roadmap to a more democratic housing system.”
“Drawing upon a rich legacy of non-speculative housing in New York State–including models like Mitchell-Lama and public housing–our report serves as a roadmap for strengthening and expanding our social housing system,” said CSS Housing Policy Analyst and report co-author Oksana Mironova.
Pathways’ 20 policies are divided into four subsections, which can be grouped into two different types of policy interventions. Sections A and B of the report focus on the need to develop and sustain social housing models and tenant organizing during and after conversions. Sections C and D outline policies that make the most abusive landlord practices economically unworkable, forcing bad landlords to either act more responsibly or exit the business and creating a pipeline for social housing conversions. Each policy description includes:
- A brief summary of what it is, and how it would work;
- The responsible jurisdiction (local, state or federal);
- The budget type (capital, operating, or neutral);
- The legal process (legislative, administrative, or judicial);
- Connections to other policies in this report;
- And the potential impact.
Finally, each policy within Pathways to Social Housing aims to be relevant for localities across New York State. Though New York contains a wide range of housing markets — from long-disinvested areas to over-capitalized ones — each policy outlined here is broadly applicable. Further, recent housing movement victories have demonstrated the power of statewide organizing by tenants and people experiencing homelessness across the ‘downstate’ and ‘upstate.’
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