New York, NY – Many New Yorkers are struggling to find affordable housing across the city, and so is District 5. Recently, District 5 candidate Rebecca Lamorte announced her housing plan, which is one for them in the city The focus will be on advice if she wins the June primary.
According to their proposal, New York City must create a new vision for affordable housing development that prioritizes the needs of local communities with long-term affordability and leads the city into a future where housing is not just treated as a human right, but guaranteed.
We spoke to her earlier about the impetus for the plan and how her own living experience and someone who is a disabled New Yorker informed her plan. The plan “Housing equity: (Re) building our affordable housing and supporting local development” can be found here.
She noted that accessibility to the city’s housing stock was something she had to deal with directly.
“I live on the third floor of a five-story building and there will be a moment in my life when I can no longer physically go up the stairs to get to my house,” said Lamorte.
“When we think about the homes that are being built, how unaffordable they are for handicapped New Yorkers, for the elderly, and for working families, that was very important to me when I started working on this plan.”
Lamorte has worked as a lawyer for the past decade and is grateful that she has a good full-time union job, but trying to find an apartment with accommodations like an elevator in the district proved prohibitive.
“If you think about it, it really is a whole study of the lack of affordable housing, the lack of accessible affordable housing in the community, and I want to go to the town hall to really focus on that,” Lamorte said said.
There are a few places in the community that new affordable housing can be built, like the empty lot on E 85th and 1st Avenues. Further south there is another empty, large lot on E 79th Street and 1st Avenue owned by developer Extell Development.
In addition, when speculating with real estate in terms of development, care must be taken that affordable housing units can be lost.
“The small apartment buildings I live in are affordable, rent-controlled and stabilized units. If they are torn down, we are not replacing the casing that is lost. We really only hurt working families, our neighbors, who continue to struggle to call the church home, ”added Lamorte.
We asked how President Joe Biden’s massive $ 2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, which includes approximately $ 213 billion in housing, can make her plan actionable at the local level.
First, she says, the money will prove to be huge to help the state and city do everything from renovating to revitalizing public housing – the roofs, the boilers, the lead and mold removal, and the plumbing . The money should also help improve NYCHA, but also help build more affordable housing units.
She believes the federal dollar infusion from Biden’s government could help set a precedent.
“In the long term, I want us to move to a model where the government subsidizes housing so that we can decommodify housing. We don’t rely on the private market to provide us with the affordable housing we need, “Lamorte said.
“But we’re taking our public dollars and using them to support New Yorkers who need housing security, especially affordable housing. If that money goes online from President Biden, it will be really huge. “
A big plus for her as a work advocate is the inclusion of current wages in the legislation that Biden proposes for housing rehabilitation and new house development.
Lamorte announced their apartment plan through Zoom and several community members participated. One resident said during the meeting that she was excited to hear someone talk about housing in District 5 because she was having difficulty finding an affordable, accessible unit. This type of feedback from a resident of the district shows that the focus of their campaign on the issue is resonating.
“I want everyone to be able to call District 5 home, but if we don’t dig really deep and look at the rents and the houses that are being built, we will continue to see the history of two cities and see one big one Divide between working-class New Yorkers and more luxurious New Yorkers. I am therefore very honored to have supported this plan and to people who, like me, regard living as a human right, ”said Lamorte.
Less than two months into Democratic Elementary School, we asked what voters need to understand and know their housing plan.
She initially noted that all of her plans for her are personal, well thought out, and carried out collectively, and should focus on the issues that affect members of the community each day, such as: B. Uncertainty about housing and accessibility.
“I’m an ordinary New Yorker, I’m a renter, and I’m a renter. I am personally invested in these issues and I intend to take the first step on the first day at City Hall to bring about the changes we need for justice in the areas of housing, disability, economy and race, ”said Lamorte.
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