Town Hall on Homelessness Takes Aim at De Blasio’s Affordable Housing Plan
(DNAINFO) Noah Horowitz | January 6, 2016 — Mayor Bill de Blasio’s affordable housing policies will have to cater more to the poorest New Yorkers if he wants to address the city’s homelessness crisis, according to the politicians and East Side residents who packed a town hall meeting on the subject Tuesday.
Residents and politicians at the meeting, held at the Church of the Epiphany at East 22nd Street and Second Avenue, zeroed in on de Blasio’s mandatory inclusionary housing proposals, saying the lowest income bracket for affordable units under the program is not low enough to cater to the area’s neediest residents.
“We’re in the middle of a major crisis and the policies don’t provide for the working poor or lower middle class,” said Kathleen Kelly, a resident of Peter Cooper Village. “
People are at risk of losing their homes and there are so many more units of luxury housing coming in than affordable.”