MSCC Homeless & Housing January 6, 2026: Mamdani’s Administration, COPA & Other Bills, Stewart Hotel’s Adaptive Reuse & HONDA, & Public Housing Updates

December 24, 2025 | Events

MSCC, John Mudd, Date: Tuesday, January 6, 2026, Time: 9:30 am-11:00 am, Zoom

SUMMARY

Let’s discuss the Mamdani appointments. Does the HONDA, Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act, bill offer opportunities for housing; is the Stewart Hotel the by-product, and does the transformation to apartment dwellings provide solutions to our crisis of unaffordable living? Have we gain housing opportunities wih COPA, Community Opportunity To Purchase Act? We will have updates from the public housing war front.

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: Gubernatorial Candidate Antonio Delgado calls for the repeal of the Stock Transfer Tax
    • “Three more Assembly members recently added their names as cosponsors and we are generating more involvement and support from NYCHA resident leaders.”
  • Others & new attending members?

 5 min

COPA, COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE ACT AND OTHER BILLS

Legislation was passed that allowed communities to have first refusal to purchase apartment dwellings or buildings. However, our out going Mayor wanted to give us one last fu@% you to the public before leaving office, by vetoing this bill and 18 others. What can be done about that (He doesn’t have the final word; it’s tricky; we’ll explain). Click to learn more about COPA from an earlier MSCC meeting with Katy Lasell, New Economy Project. See Addendum C for more comments and click for more info on passing a “flurry of bills.”

Other bills to discuss:

  • 1037 bill requires the owner of a multiple dwellings to post a sign whether the building contains rent stabilized units and information about how tenants can submit inquiries to New York State Homes and Community Renewal to find out if their units are rent stabilized.
  • Intro. 958-A requires that at least 4 percent of all newly constructed affordable units subsidized by the city be for homeownership opportunities, what officials say will double the current rate.
  • Intro. 1433-A requires 25 percent of city-financed rental apartments be two-bedroom units and 15 percent be three-bedroom units starting in July 2027, an effort to address a lack of affordable housing for larger families.
  • Intro. 1443-A requires at least half of all city-financed rentals starting in July 2027 be set aside for very low-income households (equivalent currently to four-person families earning between $48,600 to $81,000 per year) and at least 30 percent for extremely low-income households (below $48,600 a year for a four-person family).
  • Intro. 910-B sets higher wage standards for construction workers on certain city-funded housing projects.

Speaker(s): Alex Yong and Others TBA

20 min

STEWART HOTEL’S ADAPTIVE REUSE

MSCC seek to understand the challenges faced by more conservative profits motivated development. The stewart Hotel : Risboro is partnering with Breaking Ground to repurpose the Stewart Hotel in Midtown. Risboro is the nonprofit developer responsible for adapting the former JFK Hilton into housing.

Speakers: TBA

25 min

MAMDANI APPOINTMENTS
Inspired in part by Rob Robinson’s concern about Steve Banks and Helen Arteaga (see Addendum B for additional comments), we will spend a some time to review Mamdani appointments. Join our dialogue/”call in,”  email us in advance to let us know about a particular appointment you want to talk about. Email John.mudd@usa.net

Speakers: Open Dialogue

30 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 

5 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, ANY OTHER BUSINESS…

  • Topic & Speaker Suggests:
      • John Leyva to present with Jenny DUBNAU <jdubnau@verizon.net > in February (2/3/2026). Topic: the mission of the public land coalition, and especially its relevance to the future of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal
      • City Council Passes Flurry of Bills:  https://share.google/f5nprjPrHPLD5XH6u
      • Clip examples:
      • 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 Pluchinotta
      • 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, February 3, 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: MAMDANI APPOINTMENTS

Who’s who in Zohran Mamdani’s administration?

Mamdani taps de Blasio alum Steve Banks as top NYC lawyer, Elmhurst Hospital exec as health deputy

Rob Robinson:
“As a long-time advocate working to eradicate homelessness in NYC, I was surprised at Mayor-elect Mamdani’s choice of Steve Banks to be NYC Corporation Counsel (the city’s lead lawyer) and Helen Arteaga as Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. Let’s start with Steve Banks who served as NYC Department of Social Services Commissioner in the DeBlasio administration and was head of Legal Aid prior to serving as DSS commissioner. Mr Banks has long been involved in homeless policy in NYC for several decades and is often credited with reducing the city’s homeless population. Shelter resident (and others perceived to be homeless) populations have increased steadily since the early 2000s.
“In 2007 as I became a member of Picture the homeless there were approximately 25,000 people/night in NYC shelters.  As of Monday December 29, 2025 there were over 86,000 people in NYC shelters.
“Helen Arteaga, former head of Elmhurst Hospital, has no prior experience in city government. As Deputy Mayor– will she be given the freedom to act on her own or will the “homeless expert” (Steve Banks) be there to oversee any decisions Arteaga makes as the city’s health and human services lead? Why were they introduced together at Elmhurst Hospital?
“Enquiring Minds” want to know?
“You are receiving this email because of our working relationships on the issues of the houseless/homeless and housing insecure. I welcome all of your thoughts and disagreements with my skepticism of these appointments. Please feel free to share.  It’s beginning to look like the same-old city government.”

— Rob Robinson

 

Sam Turvey has had constructive interactions with Julia Kerson, and she/via Hochul have been right on Block 780, at least recently.  Sam Schwartz-a good friend of Dr. Paaswell—and a known and positive transportation force, has worked with Mike Flynn, DOT. —Notes from Sam Turvy

 

“I thought I would share my excitement with the news of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani naming Dina Levy as Commissioner of  New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. (HPD). I have wondered aloud–regarding some of Mamdani’s previous appointments while concluding–some were made to keep stability in the city’s administration. At the same time, I kept thinking when are we going to see a community minded person appointed to a position of power?  Dina Levy is an individual with a deep understanding of the community’s housing needs in NYC.
“Ms. Levy and I worked together going back to her days as staff at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB). She then went on to work in the NYS governor’s office and most recently worked for  NYS Department of Housing and Community Renewal. (HCR) I’m thrilled with the mayor’s choice and see it as a window of opportunity. What we do with the opportunity is up to us!” — Rob Robinson
Today, I appointed Tascha Van Auken as commissioner to the Mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement. OME will organize participation across this city, proactively reach people who’ve been shut out, and make sure public feedback shapes how we design policies, deliver services, and make decisions. New Yorkers deserve a government that actually listens and responds to what you need.—Mayor Mamdani
Newly-appointed Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg will oversee both efforts. The first will spend the next six months reviewing all city-owned properties to identify those where new housing could go. This will be “a deeper dive into the entire city’s inventory,” than previous, similar efforts, Bozorg said.—City Limits
“I have heard rumors that the EDC will be reporting to the newly created Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice (Julie Su): I hope that is true. And Andrew Kimball is stepping down, which is great, but let’s see who the new EDC head is. I am glad Mamdani undid Adams’ EOs, but re-passing the 19 or so city council bills that Adams vetoed will be tougher, politically.
“From the perspective of the Public Land for Public Good Coalition, I have concerns about Mamdani’s LIFT initiative (fast-tracking city-owned properties for housing development). It will be led by Leila Bozorg, who is very YIMBY/market-friendly. I worry that LIFT will serve to hand over more city property to for-profit developers/luxury housing. At the expense of deep affordability, public green space, flood mitigation, and much-needed working industrial areas.”—jenny Dubnau, Public Land For Public Good

ADDENDUM C: RESPONSE TO COPA VETO

NYCCLI’s & NEP’s statement in response to Eric Adams’ veto of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) ⤵️

“In one of his final acts as Mayor, Eric Adams chose to side with the real estate lobby over tenants and working-class communities, vetoing the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA), a bill his own housing agency helped shape. This brazenly reckless action will exacerbate New York City’s deepening housing and affordability crisis.
“The City Council passed COPA after more than five years of public discussion and technical development with affordable housing developers, tenant organizations, policy experts, and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The bill reflects careful deliberation, broad stakeholder input, and a clear legislative mandate.
“COPA is a common-sense, proven policy that levels the playing field for preservation buyers—including community land trusts, nonprofit developers, and joint ventures—in a housing market under extreme speculative pressure. San Francisco’s COPA law, enacted in 2019, has already preserved hundreds of affordable homes and kept more than 1,000 residents securely housed—without slowing building sales, disrupting the market, or facing legal challenge.
“By giving vetted, mission-driven affordable housing developers a first opportunity to purchase certain distressed and at-risk buildings up for sale, COPA prevents tenant displacement and preserves affordable housing in rapidly gentrifying low-income, Black, Brown, and immigrant communities. The law is narrowly tailored and fully excludes all 1-3 family homes, owner-occupied buildings with 5 units or fewer, family transfers, and vacant lots, among other exemptions.
“New York City cannot allow the actions of a lame-duck mayor—acting to appease powerful real estate interests—to override the will of the City Council and the communities it represents. This veto is not only an attack on urgently needed housing policy; it directly undermines the Council’s role as a democratic institution.
“We urge the Council to defend its institutional integrity by overriding this veto and enacting COPA without delay to address the City’s urgent housing affordability crisis.”
                            ###
A veto override this winter is possible, but won’t be ultra easy. When COPA passed on 12/18/2025 it was 3 votes shy of a veto-proof majority, but a veto override can still happen
—Alex Yong

 

ADDENDUM D: SPEAKER BIOS

Rob Robinson

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.

Rose Roach bio

Rose Roach is the National Coordinator for the Labor Campaign for Single Payer and Chair of Healthcare for All Minnesota.  Ms. Roach retired in 2023 as the Executive Director of the MN Nurses Association after working in the labor movement for 34 years.  For more than two decades, Ms. Roach has been involved in the healthcare justice movement, both as a national speaker and trainer. She served on Governor Mark Dayton’s Healthcare Financing Task Force as well as Attorney General, Keith Ellison’s, Lowering Pharmaceutical Costs Task Force. In 2016 and 2020, Ms. Roach was recognized as one of the MN Physician’s Magazine quadrennials, top100 leaders in healthcare, was the first recipient of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s Women’s Trailblazer award this past February and received the 2019 DFL’s Paul Wellstone Lifetime Commitment to Organized Labor award.

Viren Brahmbhatt Bio: 

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.

Viren’s Summary MSMX Plan

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.

 

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