CCPD Report on Public Housing in New York City: Keeping the Public in Public Housing

Fresh Direct: Rotten Deal for the South Bronx

CCPD is working with Mott Haven residents to fight the relocation of Fresh Direct to the South Bronx--a sweet deal for Fresh Direct that would come at a cost of $130 million in taxpayer subsidies with no benefits to the community.  Click here to read more about it.

CCPD worked with local environmental groups to complete an open space analysis of the proposed NYU expansion

NYU is seeking to build 2.2 million square feet of residential, academic, hotel and athletic facility space in 2 superblocks in Greenwich Village, privatizing public space and reducing open space by 37%.  Yet, incredibly, NYU claims that the proposed expansion will actually increase open space!  How do they arrive at this conclusion?  Mostly by including 4.82 acres of interior and exterior open space of their athletic facilities--space that won't be open to the community!

The expansion would eliminate the environmental benefits that come with the more than 300 trees that would be felled in the construction process, including the oldest community garden in New Yori City, playgrounds, a dog run and the landmark-eligble Sasaki Gardens, one of the first rooptop garden covering a garage in the US.  Click here to see the full report.

Vacancy Report released: Banking on Vacancy: Homelessness and Real Estate Speculation

CCPD partnered with Picture the Homeless (PTH), an organization founded and run by homeless people, to conduct the the first-ever count of vacant buildings and lots in the five boroughs. CCPD and PTH developed a methodology that can be implemented annually to inventory vacant lots and buildings. Using existing citywide data from various city departments as well as from volunteer reports we identified 20 target areas where there are high proportions of vacant buildings and land.  PTH and many partner community organizations mobilized volunteers to conduct a block-by-block and door-to-door survey to verify and correct this data.

On Thursday, January 26th, 2012, the findings were released showing 3,552 vacant buildings and 2,489 vacant lots in the twenty community districts with the highest concentrations of vacancies.

“This important study demonstrates that New York City can house every family if developers and the city work together to rehabilitate these vacant buildings and lots,” said New York City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito. The report is the latest development in a six-year campaign by PTH to get city government to regularly document vacant properties and develop public policies that will make them available to meet the city’s critical housing needs. CCPD and PTH continue to believe that the right to housing is a fundamental human right.