PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Chad Purkey, Interim Executive Director of Association for a Better New York (ABNY)
0:42:12
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Chad Purkey, representing the Association for a Better New York (ABNY), testified in support of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal. He emphasized the urgent need to address the housing crisis in New York City and argued that the proposed zoning amendment offers a balanced approach to tackle this issue.
- Purkey stressed the importance of maintaining all components of the text amendment, warning against scaling back any measures as it would perpetuate inequitable housing development.
- He acknowledged that while zoning changes alone cannot solve the housing crisis, they are a crucial part of a multi-faceted approach to addressing housing affordability and development.
- Purkey commended the City Council for developing its own housing action plan and emphasized the need for collaborative planning across government bodies to achieve comprehensive solutions.
Chad Purkey
0:42:12
Chair Riley and committee members, thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the Association for Better New York or Abney in support of the city of yes for housing opportunity proposal.
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My name is Chad Perkey, Interim Executive director at Abney, an organization with the mission of fostering dialogue and connections between the public and private sectors to make New York City a better place to live, work, and visit.
0:42:33
As every New Yorker knows, we are in a housing crisis.
0:42:35
Addressing this crisis requires substantive and impactful action, but also requires measured and balanced action.
0:42:41
We believe the proposed zoning amendment delivers just that, overdue action, and a balanced approach.
0:42:46
We strongly encourage the council to support the entire scope of the text amendment because each component of the proposal introduces better balance between the current zoning codes per with regulations, which too often confine and limit with that of choices and expanded options.
0:43:00
These changes provide more opportunity and options to homeowners and property owners, allowing them more decision making power on how to most effectively use their homes and property to meet their families or the communities evolving housing needs.
0:43:12
We strongly urge the council as it works with the tournament and city planning in the weeks ahead to not scale back on any one measure as doing so would only continue our decades.
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Old pattern of inequitable housing development where we see few communities seeing the majority of new housing construction while others see none or too little.
0:43:28
If the package is most sensible and overdue policy changes regarding parking minimums, transit oriented development or EDU legalization, are pared down that will only maintain the status quo, leaving New Yorkers for generations to come with our current unaffordable and undersupplied housing market.
0:43:44
We acknowledge and agree with many of the council members previous comments that there is no singular solution to the housing affordability crisis in our city.
0:43:50
This proposed zoning tax amendment can only directly address as necessary changes to zoning.
0:43:55
This albeit singular action, however, is one important part of the multiple policy changes that are needed to address housing affordability and development.
0:44:02
We commend the counsel in acknowledging this and choosing to do its part in developing its own housing action plan as the speaker has recently announced.
0:44:09
This type of collaborative planning with each body or agency in government doing its respective part is needed if we wanna see comprehensive solutions and it's a
