MSCC Homeless and Housing Meeting Agenda, April 7, 2026: Clean Hands, Stock Transfer Tax, Public Housing, & more

April 6, 2026 | johnmudd

MSCC, John Mudd, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, Time: 9:30 am-11:00 am, ZOOM.US

SUMMARY

This Week’s discussions include: Clean Hands Bill & Eviction Free Rent Campaign; Stock Transfer Tax; Addressing Public Housing Needs; Public Housing Legal Defense Fund.

CHAIR: John Mudd

WELCOME / INTRODUCTIONS

We appreciate all suggestions to help us run this meeting proficiently.

  • Housekeeping (Zoom protocols) copying chat, muting, etc.
    • Signing in: Please sign in with your name and organization
  • Please email subject and speaker suggestions by the 15th of each month
  • Items to Triage: To give time to pressing topics, please forward items at least 24 hours prior to meetings
  • Introductions, welcoming new and old members (keeping it short and sweet)
  • Need someone to summarize actions and followup

PURPOSE

The Homeless and Housing members, attendees, and speakers share knowledge, ideas, and resources to identify problems and find solutions to the homeless, housing, and health crisis.

5 min

POLICY MEETING UPDATES

The prior 8:30 Homeless and Housing Policy meeting wrap-up as presented by attending members.

0 min

COUNCIL HIGHLIGHTS

Council’s progress report on actions and initiatives (see Addendum A for more).

2 min

SPECIAL INTRODUCTION(S) AND OR UPDATES: 

The below list of intros and updates should be brief; everyone is welcomed to present for a lengthier discussion at a planned date

  • Need Board and committee members (funding & Finance, Street Sheets) 
  • Elected officials/agencies—updates
  • Alex Yong, WSNA NYC, RTC, Member of the End Apartment Warehousing Coalition, MSCC
  • Stock Transfer Act Updates
  • Public Housing: We are still fighting in the streets and in the courts. Follow the breadcrumbs and see our trajectory of the fight to save public housing (see ADDENDUM C) 
  • Others & new attending members?

 5 min

CLEAN HANDS BILL, EVICTION FREE RENT CAMPAIGN

Initiatives by RTC, Right To Counsel to protect tenants.

Speaker: Khadija Hussain, Campaign Organizer, Right To Counsel

S9650 BILL

Original sponsor was Brad Hoylman-Sigal. Liz Krueger is the new sponsor. If the bill becomes law, it doesn’t *end* the affordability doomsdays — the law would say landlords can’t lie about rent expirations.

3 min

ECONOMIC SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC NEEDS

James S. Henry, economist and advocate for the Stock Transfer Tax legislation. The legislation needs widespread support. The Stock Transfer Tax Bill (a1494a/s1237)

Speaker: James S. Henry, economist and advocate

30 min

PUBLIC LAND FOR PUBLIC GOOD — Held Over

Campaign: Public Land For Public Good advocates talk about strategy and actions to realize their goals.

12 min

ZORHAN MAMDANI Vs. THE REAL ESTATE — Held Over

Rob Robinson is senior advisor at Partners in Dignity and Rights, and a human rights movement-builder with roots in New York City and networks worldwide. Rob will discuss the opportunities for a real housing initiative develop within the Mamdani administration.

40 min

PUBLIC HOUSING

Public housing across our city and nation are under attack. Private developers (Related) want to take over the largest stock of affordable housing. They are working to end Section 9, and demolishing Chelsea campuses for huge gains. We are continuing to discuss public housing tenant struggles in and outside of New York 

2 min

PUBLIC CONCERNS

  • Immediate needs?

ACTIONS

  • Summary
  • Additional Requests

2 min

ANNOUNCEMENTS / EVENTS

  • Additional announcements from new attendees, committee members, elected officials, others 
  • Last words?

2 min

DEVELOPING INITIATIVES & PROGRAMS

  • Hurt Committee
  • Objectives/Mission/Vision: MSCC is busily restructuring to become more effective in accomplishing its goals and making plans for the coming new year to complete their:
    • Mission: Midtown South Community Council strives to dismantle the causes of homelessness by building an equitable, just, and sustainable social infrastructure to ensure dignity, health, and home for all. 
    • Vision: Midtown South Community Council envisions a city where homelessness and poverty are eradicated
  • Committees: Managing our overwhelming tasks together with our intersecting network. If anyone wants to be involved with building committees to serve programs and projects of mutual interests (Housing, Urban Farming, Education & Awareness, healthcare, incarceration, workshops, health access, Home Improvement, communications/social media messaging, Midtown Street Sheets…), please let us know
  • Street Sheets

2min

AOB

  • Topic & Speaker Suggests:
      • The Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan (MSMX) faces major critiques for prioritizing market-driven development while neglecting affordability, climate resilience, infrastructure, and community input. Like past rezoning in SoHo, East Harlem, and Long Island City, it risks displacing low-income residents and industrial jobs, offers vague affordability promises, and lacks strong public benefits, inclusive economic planning, and future-proof zoning.
      • Marquis Jenkins discusses public housing with members from Riis Houses, Ladan from Glendale Housing in Minneapolis — This discussion was on May 6, 2025. Further discussion is needed. 
      • Discussion with Andre P, about his Post Feb 4, 2025 Homeless and Housing Meeting Comments
      • Illusion of Choice: How Source of Income Discrimination and Voucher Policies Perpetuate Housing Inequality, UnlockNYC — Done!
      • Department of Building’s Office of Tenant Advocate (OTA) advocates for tenant against obtrusive or illegal construction within multi unit residential buildings. Speaker(s): Rakell Washington & Ana Pluchinatta
      • Charisma White (MSCC), what does deeply affordable housing mean
      • Network marketing and communications committee (suggestion)
      • Prison to shelter and back again
      • Policing the problem away; 50% of the Riker’s Island jail population are mentally ill
  • Speaker Suggestions: All suggestions are welcomed
  • New Members: Thank you for joining, feel free to tell us your needs, schedule a presentation, and connect with anyone within this network
  • NEXT Meeting Homeless and Housing Meeting: 9:30 AM Tuesday, April 7, 2026
      • Always the 1st Tuesday of every month

2 min

Contact hello@midtownsouthcc.org or john.mudd@usa.net for more information and Zoom invitations.

ADDENDUM A: PRESS HIGHLIGHTS

ADDENDUM B: BIOGRAPHIES

James S. Henry is an economist, attorney, and investigative journalist who has become a leading authority on complex global justice issues. In the private sector, Mr. Henry has served as Director of Economic Research (chief economist), McKinsey & Co.; VP Strategy, IBM/Lotus Development; Business Development Manager, Chairman’s Office (Jack Welch), GE; and Senior Consultant, Monitor Company. He is the founder and Managing Director of Sag Harbor Group, a competitive strategy firm that has served such leading international clients as ABB, Bell Labs/ AT&T, Charles Allen & Co., the Calvert Fund, Cemex, ChinaTrust, the Joint Caribbean Task Force (Scotland Yard/FBI), IBM/Lotus, Intel, RSA Telecom, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Swedish Power Board, TransAlta, Volvo, and Daikin. In the public sphere Mr. Henry is a Global Justice Fellow at Yale, where he co-teaches a graduate seminar on “Global Justice Problems” with Prof. Thomas Pogge. He is also a Senior Fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Investment, and a Senior Advisor to the Tax Justice Network, an international NGO that has led the fight to dismantle tax havens. He has also been an active pro bono environmental and constitutional lawyer in New York. In investigative journalism, Mr. Henry has written numerous articles and several books about international private banking, offshore havens, debt, capital flight, and development, and has conducted first-hand investigations in dozens of developing countries. He was the principle author of The Price of Offshore Revisited (July 2012, TJN), a seminal work on offshore wealth whose estimates have recently (June 2020) been validated by the OECD.

Layla Law-Gisiko, 18 years on Manhattan Community Board Five As a District Leader for Assembly District 75, Part A, I’m here to lead and serve. I’ve proudly served on Manhattan Community Board Five for 18 years, where I currently hold dual leadership roles as Chair of the Land Use, Housing and Zoning Committee and the Landmarks Committee.

Nina Schwalbe, MPH, PhD, is a New Yorker, public health practitioner, scientist, and advocate who has spent her career working to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to health.  She is now running as a democrat for US Congress in NY-12 (https://www.ninafornyc.com/)

In 2021 she was appointed by the Biden-Harris Administration to design, launch, and implement a US$7 billion USAID emergency initiative delivering one billion COVID-19 vaccines to low- and lower-middle-income countries.

From organizing local grassroots action to international head of state summits, she believes that progress happens when people work together, listen to one another, and lead with empathy

Viren Brahmbhatt is an architect, an urban designer, and the founder of de.Sign Studio in New York City -an international design practice that works towards significant and implementable change through design. His work includes various community and recreational centers and urban design projects for affordable housing including many for the City of New York and Seoul, Medellin, Mumbai and New Delhi. He has been teaching at various  schools of architecture as an adjunct professor including at GSAPP, Columbia University, Sam Fox School/WashU St. Louis, , CCNY’s The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture and Pratt Institute, New York.

Rob Robinson is senior advisor at Partners in Dignity and Rights, and a human rights movement-builder with roots in New York City and networks worldwide. His work focuses on economic justice and addresses issues such as debt, police violence and access to broadband. Robinson also has been involved with the U.S. Human Rights Network, the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights, and the Land and Housing Action Group of the Take Back the Land national movement.

Brett G. Stoudt is an Associate Professor and Deputy Executive Officer in the Psychology Doctoral Program at the City University of New York, Graduate Center. Dr. Stoudt conducts public-oriented science and has worked on numerous participatory action research projects with community groups, lawyers, and policymakers nationally and internationally. His general interests include the social psychology of privilege and oppression with specific focus on the human impact of the criminal punishment system, especially policing. He is also interested in critical methodologies, particularly critical approaches to quantitative research.

Brett is the author of We Deserve to be Safe (as part of Communities United for Police Reform & the Public Science Project), a report that explores how New Yorkers living in heavily policed communities understand and experience safety.

Jay W. Walker  is a skilled NYC activist and Resistance organizer based in Chelsea. He has been part of the coalition that launched Hands Off NYC since its start.

Margarita Aguilar is a long time labor activist and graphic designer. She’s lived in Chelsea for 14 years and is co-chair of the LGBTQ+ group at Penn South.

Trudy Rudnick, is a retired union organizer and a coordinator of the Penn South Archive project, which documents through interviews, assorted documents, pictures and a film, the history of Penn South, an affordable housing development in the middle of NYC. All 3 are founders of Chelsea Neighbors United Hands Off NYC (handsoffnyc.com ) is a coordinated effort supported by a coalition of over 200 unions, faith leaders, activist organizations and community groups, to stand together in nonviolent resistance to the uninvited, unwarranted, unnecessary, unjust, and unconstitutional federal intervention in NYC’s communities. Just as people in cities across the country have stood up to these attacks, the people in NYC will too.

Chelsea Neighbors United ( ChelseaNeighborsUnited2@gmail.com ) is the neighborhood affiliate of Hands Off NYC. In its 3-weeks existence, they have had meetings, distributed flyers and whistles on street corners calling for our community to be a part of the movement to defend immigrants who live and work in Chelsea. They have also canvassed businesses and restaurants in the Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen neighborhoods with the tools they need to protect their workers. Over 300 people have signed up to be involved. Our next major event is a Chelsea Town Hall on Monday, December 15, 6:30 at St. Peters Church.

ADDENDUM C: PUBLIC HOUSING STATUS

  • Takeroot Justice has filed a petition on behalf of the tenants of Elliott-Chelsea and Fulton Houses against New York City Housing Authority, NYCHA. John Low-Beer and Chuck Weinstock have filed an Amicus Brief in support. We were In Court To See Justice David B. Cohen on Wednesday, Dec 4, 2025 to defend the seniors. The Judge was extremely upset with NYCHA for suing the seniors (see transcripts)— 10AM, 71 Thomas Street
  • John Low-Beer filed an application for a TRO, temporary injunction has been granted, and hearing is set for March 2, 2026

ADDENDUM D: Damu Radheshwar’s Urban Planning Proposal

D R a d h e s h w a r Damyanti Radheshwar FIIA AIA LEED AP

Damu@DRadheshwar.com

www.dradheshwar.com

Architect + Urban Planner and Strategist

Updated February 23, 2025; Original: November 22, 2019

Living your life in Your Own Home in Public Housing

NYCHA Housing – a Pilot Program for Self-Management: An Abstract

Stakeholders: NYCHA Resident Tenants, Tenants Unions and Community Advocates

Ownership Structure: NYCHA, HPD, and NYC and NYS Agencies

Planning – Analysis and Recommendations

In my submission for the Loeb Fellowship a few years ago, I proposed a pilot plan for ‘self-management’ that

empowers residents to assume responsibilities through training, advocacy, and using available economic resources.

NYCHA Physical Need Assessment

Capital Need Categories

Housing Deficiencies

Capital Needs

Capital Funding Sources

Capital Commitment

Intention:

• NYCHA residents select a building to run the pilot program.

• Create a pilot program for residents’ self-management by offering them training in property management

and allocating funds typically budgeted by NYCHA for that specific property. Provide financing for physical

needs assessments, address deficiencies, implement necessary capital improvements, manage HAZMAT

mitigation, ensure code compliance for life safety and the environment, and carry out essential significant

repairs.

• Through participatory planning and budgeting, the stakeholder community will establish and prioritize the

specifications for a baseline level of well-built and well-maintained interior and exterior spaces to improve

conditions. The minimum standard for residential occupancy specified by the New York State Multiple

Dwelling Code will be met and exceeded.

• Support equitable social and economic opportunities for the residents in a democratically operated

cooperative arrangement.

• The concept of “towers in the park,” based on Le Corbusier’s proposed master plan for Paris, has not

succeeded in New York and other cities across the USA. In Paris, people prefer walkable streets that foster

social and commercial activities like shopping, dining, and cafés, creating economic opportunities for the

community. At night, the deserted sidewalks around NYCHA projects often evoke a sense of insecurity. A

focus on activating the streets could be integrated into the pilot program. This can be achieved through

small shops, farmers markets, and arts and crafts initiatives run by the residents, revitalizing the streetscape

and generating creative economic prospects. The value created can then be used to enhance the pilot

program further.

• Measure the program’s impact every 2-5 years. If it is deemed successful, build capacity for the other

properties in the NYCHA system.D R a d h e s h w a r Architect + Urban Planner and Strategist

Resources

• NYC Community Land Trust wants to “Go Big” partner with NYC Community Initiative (NYCCLI)

• NYC and NYS Economic Development Corporations

• Neighborhood Planning Playbook

• Research examples in other cities, e.g., Dudley Street in Boston

• The RAD Rental Assistance Demonstration for NYCHA?

Funding Resources:

• Leverage funding: NYCHA budget allocated for maintenance, federal resources, Low-Income Housing Tax

Credit (LIHTC), Private Activity Bonds, etc.

• Private sponsorship to partially or fully support the pilot program

• Other resources to be explored

Tools:

• Alternate Options ownership/rental

• Down payment assistance/ Incentives

• Upgrade aging boiler systems

• The Housing Plan: At Work In Your Neighborhood

• In May 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled Housing New York: A Five-Borough, Ten-Year Plan to

create and preserve 200,000 high-quality, affordable homes over ten years.

• In January 2020, the Administration launched YOUR Home NYC, the next phase of Housing New York.

Through YOUR Home NYC, we are strengthening our efforts to build and preserve affordable housing, create

neighborhood wealth, and protect renters.

• Mitchell-Lama Reinvestment Program – help aging Mitchell-Lamas stay affordable

• HomeFix Housing provides financial assistance to low-income homeowners to make repairs and keep their

homes healthy and safe.

• Advance the growth of Community Land Trusts (CLTs) by working with Enterprise Community Partners to

secure funding for emerging and existing land trusts dedicated to preserving and creating affordable

housing in neighborhoods they know best.

• Tenant Union

• Capacity building

• Leverage funding: federal resource

• RADS

• Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)

• Private Activity Bonds

• EDC and HPD

• Conditions Assessment, Participatory planning, and budgeting

• Explore Economic and Entrepreneurial opportunities in creative ways

ADDENDUM E: ANDRE P: COMMENTS POST FEBRUARY 4, 2025 HOMELESS AND HOUSING MEETING

Gentlemen,

As a follow-up to today’s MSCC meeting, I’d like to add some comments; I posted some in the chat channel, but they seem to have gone unnoticed.

Thinking yesterday about today’s meeting, I had a eureka moment. The phrase “criminalization of homelessness” is always used in the context of homeless people being criminally charged, or harassed with “move along” orders, when they’re in streets, subways, or other public spaces. But we should also look into criminalization of homeless people *inside* shelters, safe havens, drop-in centers, supportive housing, and other institutions that are supposed to help them and care for them. It happens more often than we know.

Shelter workers harass a client in various ways, then claim the client is harassing *them* and call the police. Or clients (perhaps acting in concert with workers) harass, assault, even murder other clients (Deven Black), and workers refuse to defend the victims, then paint the victims as perpetrators.

A similar issue is “psychiatrization” – intentionally false-positive psychiatric misdiagnoses or mischaracterizations, both of individual clients (often in their secret files) and of homeless people in general, eg. those found in the streets with clothing inadequate for the season (attributing the client’s “inability to meet his basic needs” to his alleged mental-health problems rather than failures of the homelessness and welfare agencies to live up to their duties of care – and then attempting to lock him up in a psychiatric facility under an expanded “basic needs” standard Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul are pushing for).

Most homeless outreach efforts, no matter how much good faith, effort, and taxpayers’ money or volunteers’ time goes into them, will be wasted if the DHS system continues to be as dysfunctional, dangerous, and abusive as it is. I believe the first thing to do would be to have it develop a fair and effective system for handling complaints. Currently, it’s geared to ignore, delay, then retaliate against the clients, rather than do justice and improve the conditions. That’s why people are put out or leave, and then are very reluctant to go back in. (And sometimes accused of “refusing help”.)

An important related issue is access to evidence. Workers write notes about clients, put them in the CARES computer record system, but never let clients read them, rarely tell them of their existence, and don’t respond to formal requests under the Personal Privacy Protection Law. Worse, the DHS forbade taking photos, videos, and live streaming (DHS-PB-2022-015), then also audio recording (DHS-PB-2024-005) – no exceptions, even for crimes in progress. Without evidence, we can’t prove the truth. And without the truth, we can’t have justice, except by accident.

In my opinion, concerned advocates should take a greater interest in what happens inside the shelter system and try to improve it, and help clients who have standing to improve it. When the shelters are fit for human habitation and the unsheltered know it, it won’t take much for them to get in.

Would you share your thoughts on this?

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