PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Puneet Lath on City of Yes for Housing Opportunity
8:27:39
·
87 sec
Puneet Lath, a resident of Lower Manhattan, testifies in favor of the City of Yes proposal, emphasizing the need for increased housing supply to address rising costs and homelessness in New York City. He argues that the proposal will help distribute housing development more evenly across neighborhoods, potentially reducing rent prices and improving livability.
- Lath lives in the Bowery, between Chinatown and the Lower East Side, and has witnessed the effects of high housing costs and gentrification.
- He cites the city's low vacancy rate (below 2%) as evidence of a supply-demand imbalance in housing.
- Lath expresses hope that City Council members will approve the proposal in its strongest form.
Puneet Lath
8:27:39
Hello.
8:27:40
My name is Puneet.
8:27:42
I'm here to testify in favor of City of LA.
8:27:45
Yes.
8:27:45
I live in Lower Manhattan in the Bowery, right between Chinatown and the lower east side to important unique historic neighborhoods in New York City.
8:27:55
I'm here because I'm worried about the continued rising cost of housing in the neighborhoods around where I live and in the city as a whole.
8:28:02
Neighborhoods like mine continue to feel the crunch of rising costs and gentrification.
8:28:07
I live near very close to 2 homeless shelters, and I frequently walk through Sarah D Roosevelt Park.
8:28:13
Every day I see many people who are suffering due to the effects of high housing costs.
8:28:17
I understand that there are many considerations in how we go about creating new housing, but to a large degree, it seems to me like this is a problem of clear supply and demand issue, where the reason for such unaffordable rent cost is because demand for apartments is so high compared to the supply.
8:28:35
Even though some neighborhoods build a lot of housing, most do not.
8:28:39
Which can be seen in the city wide vacancy rate being below 2%, which is the lowest it's been since the 19 sixties.
8:28:45
This is why I'm very excited about the city b s proposal.
8:28:48
What I'm most excited about is that it will cause more housing to be built in more neighborhoods rather than just a few of them, which will help spread the housing burden across the city, and benefit all neighborhoods by decreasing rent prices and making New York City more lit livable.
8:29:02
I hope the city council members will approve it in the strongest form.
8:29:06
Thank you.
