FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATEMENT: CVH Responds to One-House Budget Proposals
March 12, 2024 (NEW YORK, NY) – Community Voices Heard, the largest Black-led organizing institution in New York State, issued the following statement today:
We applaud the New York State Senate and Assembly for taking a first step toward a more equitable New York State. Our members know: making billionaires and corporations pay their fair share, protecting tenants, and funding public housing are key to making our state stronger.
After tireless advocacy, we are glad to see a proposal to raise taxes on the wealthiest in our state, which will help right decades of inequity and invest public money into our communities.
We are also glad to see funding for public housing residents; preserving public housing is a key part of the solution to New York’s ever-growing housing crisis. Yet, chronic underfunding has resulted in public housing being demolished or sold off. The proposal to add $500 million for NYCHA capital repairs and $140 million for public housing outside of NYC is a step in the right direction, but it is not nearly enough. Public housing needs $4.5 billion for capital repairs to preserve 40,000 units over the next five years, including $3.55 billion for NYCHA and $950 million for public housing in the rest of the State. The State must also allocate $500 million for rent arrears for public housing residents across New York to prevent evictions of thousands of families.
Thankfully, both houses continue to support the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP), which will help low-income New Yorkers who are homeless, facing eviction, and at risk of losing their housing because of domestic violence or hazardous living conditions.
However, proposals for Good Cause eviction protections that would require upstate localities to “opt in,” and loopholes around building size, would leave hundreds of thousands of tenants across the state out of basic tenant protections. New Yorkers work hard to pay rent and stay in their homes, but they are facing record rent increases and evictions – particularly Black women, who are evicted at twice the rate of white tenants.
We cannot let New York State be run by the real estate industry. We urge Governor Hochul to come to the table to: make sure billionaires pay their fair share, fully fund public housing and the Housing Access Voucher Program, and pass statewide Good Cause Eviction in the budget. We must protect every tenant in the state from unfair evictions and egregious rent hikes.
CVH’s full platform is available here: cvhaction.org/2024-legislative
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Community Voices Heard (CVH) is a member-led, multi-racial organization principally comprised of women of color and low-income families in New York State. CVH tackles tough issues and builds power to secure racial, social, and economic justice for all New Yorkers. Through grassroots organizing, leadership development, policy changes, and creating new models of direct democracy, CVH is creating a truly equitable New York State.