PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Gregory Marvin on City of Yes for Housing Opportunity
6:55:02
·
131 sec
Gregory Marvin testifies in support of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal, emphasizing the urgent need for housing reform in New York City. He highlights the severe impact of the housing shortage on renters and criticizes the current community input process for favoring homeowners and rent-stabilized tenants.
- Argues that market-rate renters, who are most affected by the housing shortage, are underrepresented in community input processes due to work and childcare commitments
- Provides personal anecdotes of friends struggling with housing costs, including decisions about family planning and long commutes
- Challenges opponents to consider the real-life consequences of maintaining the status quo versus the perceived negative impacts of the proposal
Gregory Marvin
6:55:02
Thank you for hearing my testimony.
6:55:05
I wanna start by addressing a little bit of an elephant in the room here.
6:55:10
It is 4 PM on a Tuesday.
6:55:14
The people who are hurt most by our die die our housing shortage, market rate renters, are not adequately represented in these quote unquote community input processes because they are busy with work and childcare.
6:55:27
And more importantly than this asymmetry in representation is the asymmetry of the stakes.
6:55:34
I really don't know that opponents of this legislation, who are homeowners or whom are lucky enough to be rent stabilized, really appreciate just how bad it is out there for a lot of renters right now.
6:55:47
In the last week, I've talked to friends who, in one case, are deciding not to have a second child because of the cost of housing.
6:55:55
Another who are commuting 3 hours combined a day to and from Suffolk County, and I encourage the council to consider the trade offs at stake here in these terms and actually compare the stakes against one another.
6:56:11
You know, I know you wanna start a family, but have you considered the impact of a few more tall buildings on the character of my neighborhood?
6:56:17
I know you wanna get work home from work before your kids are asleep, but did we really gather enough, quote unquote, community input for this proposal?
6:56:25
I know a few thousand more people might lose the game of housing musical chairs in our city and become homeless, but what about developer profits?
6:56:34
These comparisons sound silly when you really consider the stakes here for renters in our city, in a housing shortage.
6:56:43
And as for arguments about a 100% affordability, To state the obvious, building market rate housing does not somehow prevent us from building subsidized housing as well.
6:56:55
I look forward to supporting more subsidies that might be enabled by the property tax revenue that these new market rate units generate in the future.
UNKNOWN
6:57:05
Thank you.
6:57:05
Tom's expired.
Gregory Marvin
6:57:06
Watering down this much needed modernization of our zoning code
Kevin C. Riley
6:57:10
is Thank you.
Gregory Marvin
6:57:10
Policy, and in my opinion, more late in defensible.
