PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Sarah McKenna from Flatbush on City of Yes Housing Plan
13:42:57
·
105 sec
Sarah McKenna, a homeowner from Victorian Flatbush, opposes the City of Yes housing plan, arguing it fails to address affordable housing needs and primarily benefits developers. She highlights the plan's lack of affordability mandates and questions why the city isn't focusing on converting underutilized office buildings in Midtown Manhattan into affordable housing.
- Criticizes the plan for allowing homeowners like herself to profit without ensuring affordable rents
- Mentions the success of a 2009 rezoning plan in her neighborhood that resulted in 2000 new units through community collaboration
- Suggests reimagining underutilized office buildings in Midtown Manhattan as a better solution for creating affordable housing
Sarah McKenna
13:42:57
Thank you so much.
13:42:59
I'm Sarah McCaneda.
13:43:00
I'm calling in from Flatbush, Victoria Flatbush.
13:43:03
I want to echo the voices that have come to for me today.
13:43:06
The city needs affordable housing, but this is not a plan to achieve that.
13:43:10
The city of yes land has no mandates for affordable housing, but it does meet the needs of developers for more land.
13:43:17
It does not present a viable solution to an issue that is becoming more pressing every year.
13:43:23
I'm calling in, as I said, from from Flatbush, from Victorian Flatbush, and as a homeowner, I would likely profit from this plan.
13:43:31
Right?
13:43:31
I could expand my home.
13:43:32
I could put rental units in my garage to my basement, which will flood regularly.
13:43:38
There would really be no requirement for me to charge affordable rents for those spaces, and there would be no incentive for me to fix up those spaces unless I expected a higher rent.
13:43:47
That's basically the plan that that you guys have presented us with, and it doesn't make any sense.
13:43:53
We worked together as a community to put put forward the 2009 resulting plan for our neighborhood, and it did result as many have said before me in 2000 new units.
13:44:04
It was seen as a great success and it was the outcome of our community working together.
13:44:11
One question I have is why aren't we taking advantage of the massive real estate opportunity we have after the pandemic lockdown in Midtown Manhattan where we have huge office buildings that are going underutilized and it's societal shift that's not going to change.
13:44:28
Why don't we put the developers to work to reimagine those huge buildings to create more livable, affordable spaces?
13:44:36
For our new workers so that we can really solve this problem.
13:44:41
Thank you.
