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TESTIMONY

Alexander McCoy, Marine Corps veteran, on City of Yes and its impact on veterans' housing affordability

12:22:27

·

3 min

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Alexander McCoy, a service-disabled Marine Corps veteran and member of Open New York, expresses strong support for the City of Yes initiative, particularly highlighting its importance for veterans' welfare in New York City. He describes the current housing challenges faced by veterans despite generous benefits, emphasizing the difficulty in affording suitable housing or achieving homeownership in the city.

Provides specific examples of housing affordability issues for disabled veterans and their families
Criticizes the current restrictive zoning system for forcing veterans into substandard living conditions or long commutes
Supports full implementation of City of Yes measures to address housing challenges for veterans

Support for City of Yes initiative, especially for its benefits to veterans
Current housing prices and rent are unaffordable for many veterans, even with generous benefits
Exclusionary zoning forces veterans to live in substandard conditions or have long commutes
New York City has a lower percentage of veterans per capita due to housing issues
Some community members exploit veterans as props against building new homes
City of Yes program should be implemented in full to address these issues

[EXPERIMENTAL]

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Alexander McCoy

12:22:27

Great.

12:22:28

Good evening.

12:22:29

Can you hear me?

Dan Garodnick

12:22:30

We can.

Alexander McCoy

12:22:33

Thank you.

12:22:34

My name's Alexander McCoy.

12:22:36

I am a 80% service disabled marine corps veteran.

12:22:41

I'm also a member of Open New York, and I've lived in my home in Upper Manhattan and have been advocating for fellow post 911 veterans in New York City for more than a decade ever since I separated from the service.

12:22:55

I'd like to express my enthusiasm stick support for city of yes in its entirety and specifically explain why it's necessary for its provisions for the welfare of New York City's veteran.

12:23:07

And how armed we are by the status quo of our system of restrictive zoning and the necessity for excruciating battles over nearly every construction project to build new homes.

12:23:19

A speaker this morning listening ever since 10 So God bless you all.

12:23:26

But a speaker this morning described how the original GI bill enabled millions of veterans to enter the middle class and achieve homeownership.

12:23:35

Something a lot of people had been praising tonight.

12:23:38

I'd like to talk about what the experience of our housing shortages like in practice for the current generation of veterans like me despite our benefits being far more generous on paper than any generation that for us.

12:23:51

So as an example, a 100% disabled veteran with a spouse who is their full time caregiver receiving funding from the VA along with 2 children, has a household income of about $88,000.

12:24:05

That's 50 k for the veterans, for their disability, and 37, 38 for their spouse.

12:24:12

That means that that family and that veteran can only afford a monthly rent.

12:24:18

Or mortgage expense of $2950 a month in order to not be considered rent burden.

12:24:25

And that's too low to afford to live in many areas of our city and also means that home ownership is unrealistic and unthinkable at current housing prices.

12:24:35

At these interest rates, our example veteran and their family could only afford a 30 year mortgage to buy a condo or other home if it costs less than around $300,000.

12:24:46

Good luck with that.

12:24:47

Additionally, veterans attending our world class colleges, using their GI bill, are able to afford about $1700 a month in rent.

12:24:59

The exclusionary restrictive zoning of much of New York City forces veterans to live in substandard conditions and have lengthy lengthy commutes.

12:25:07

And therefore, it is no surprise that New York City has significantly lower percentage of veterans residing per capita despite our many advantages.

12:25:17

And despite this, we frequently see exclusionary anti home members of our communities cynically exploit veterans like me as well as other sympathetic protagonists as props against the building of new homes.

12:25:30

And I fully support the measures of the city of Yes program, and I think you should implement them in full.

12:25:35

Thank you.

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