PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of Fifth Avenue Committee
0:50:53
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121 sec
Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of Fifth Avenue Committee, testified in strong support of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity proposal. She emphasized that solving the housing crisis requires political will and significant investment, arguing that the proposal, while modest, unlocks tremendous potential for addressing housing issues in New York City.
- De la Uz highlighted key aspects of the proposal, including removing parking mandates, ensuring universal affordability preference, and facilitating office-to-residential conversions.
- She provided an example of how the Universal Affordability Preference (UAP) could have created 10 additional affordable housing units in a recent Fifth Avenue Committee project.
- De la Uz also stressed the importance of complementary investments in rental assistance and affordable housing development/preservation to address both housing supply and affordability.
Michelle de la Uz
0:50:53
Thank you, Chair Riley, and council members for the opportunity to testify today.
0:50:57
My name is Michelle Dell'Os, and I'm the executive director of the 5th Avenue Committee of forty six year old nonprofit, CDC whose mission is to advance economic social and racial justice in New York City.
0:51:07
I'm testifying in strong support of city of yes for housing opportunity.
0:51:12
At my core, I'm a pragmatic idealist.
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And I believe that our housing crisis, in particular, our affordable housing crisis can be solved with 2 things.
0:51:22
Political will and significant investment at the scale needed to solve the problem.
0:51:28
The council today with the city of yes proposal gets to demonstrate whether or not it has the political will to address in a modest way, although broad, a 100,000 units over 300 acres over 15 years is actually modest, but it unlocks tremendous potential.
0:51:46
It unlocks and removes barriers to common sense things, like removing parking mandates, like ensuring universal affordability preference, and, of course, helping to convert office to residential uses.
0:52:00
These are all common sense things where there's broad support.
0:52:04
And of course, we know that the council in addition to the city of yes is considering multiple investments that would further improve upon the city of yes.
0:52:14
And those investments, whether they be to expand rental assistance, or to have capital investments in the development or preservation of existing affordable housing or in creating new affordable housing.
0:52:26
These are critically important investments to make sure that we address both the supply affordable housing and housing in general, but in creating affordable housing.
0:52:36
I'm just gonna give one small example.
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5th Avenue Committee just recently completed the city's first affordable housing over a library.
0:52:43
UAP would have created 10 additional units.
0:52:46
In that project.
0:52:47
Doesn't sound like much, but for the 4000 Sunset Park residents that applied, 10 of them would be living in their community today.
0:52:54
Had we had it?
Kevin C. Riley
0:52:55
Thank you.
