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TESTIMONY

Mark Greenberg from Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness And Housing and Interfaith Affordable Housing Collaborative on supporting City of Yes for Housing Opportunity to address homelessness and affordability crisis

11:51:12

·

3 min

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Mark Greenberg, representing faith-based organizations addressing homelessness, expresses strong support for the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative. He emphasizes the critical need for affordable housing to combat the growing homelessness crisis in New York City and urges bold action to address the issue.

  • Greenberg highlights the increase in homelessness from under 10,000 to over 100,000 people, including the recent migrant crisis.
  • He stresses the importance of safe, decent, and affordable housing for individuals to rebuild their lives after experiencing homelessness.
  • Greenberg calls on New York City to stand in solidarity with those struggling and for zoning rules to enable faith communities to contribute to solving the housing crisis.
  • Supports the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity initiative as a bold and innovative plan
  • Emphasizes the need for affordable housing to address homelessness crisis
  • Highlights the increase in homeless population from under 10,000 to over 100,000 (including migrants)
  • Stresses the importance of safe, decent, affordable housing in rebuilding lives
  • Argues that inaction is not an option given the current housing crisis
  • Calls for New York's zoning rules to enable faith communities to contribute to housing solutions
  • Acknowledges fear of change but emphasizes that the status quo is more frightening for those struggling with housing
  • Urges bold action to address the affordability and homelessness crisis

[EXPERIMENTAL]

Which elements of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity were discussed in this testimony?

  • UAP

The following are AI-extracted quotes and reasoning about which elements of the proposal were discussed in this testimony.

This is a quick, close approximation. Occasionally, the connection between a testimony's transcript and specific elements of City Planning's proposal is tenuous.

Read about this AI-generated analysis here.

UAP

"The city of yes, for for housing opportunities and enabling housing for many income levels, will mean that more of the lowest income New Yorkers will have greater opportunity to rebuild their lives and give back to our great city."

This quote suggests that the speaker is discussing the Universal Affordability Preference (UAP) element of the proposal. While not explicitly mentioning UAP, the speaker refers to 'housing opportunities' and 'enabling housing for many income levels,' which aligns with the UAP's goal of providing affordable housing options in high-cost neighborhoods for working families.

About this analysis:

This analysis is done by AI that reasons whether or not a quote from the testimony discusses a particular element of the proposal.

All the prompts and data are open and available on Github.

You can search for testimonies that mentioned a specific element in the table on the main meeting page.

When an element is explicitly stated in the testimony (e.g. "Universal Affordability Preference" or "UAP"), the analysis is accurate.

But the connection between a quote from the testimony and an element of the proposal is sometimes implicit.

In these cases, the AI might eagerly label a testimony as discussing a proposal when the connection is tenuous, or it might omit it entirely.

↗ Why are there transcription and diarization errors?
Mark Greenberg
11:51:12
And and commission member commissioners and the chair.
11:51:18
Thank you for your incredible endurance of being present for most of the testimony.
11:51:23
I was there this morning with you, and I I had a leave, and I'm so glad that you're still available for me to address you.
11:51:30
I want to thank you for all this important hearing and for working to find the most effective way to respond to the diverse needs and concerns and the creative proposals offered by so many New Yorkers.
11:51:40
I'm Mark Greenberg, Executive Director of the Interface Assembly And Homelysis And Housing And President of the Interface's Portal Housing Collaborative.
11:51:47
The interface assembly grew out of efforts based at the Cathedral Church St.
11:51:50
John the Devine in 1982.
11:51:53
As we watched the numbers of soup kitchens, welfare hotels, shelters, and people on the streets explode, we committed ourselves to bearing witness to the crisis of homelessness and ask the question, no matter what your faith or background is, this truly what we as a society or call to do.
11:52:09
Over my 4 years of working with those who have been homeless or at risk of homelessness, I've seen our homeless census go up from under 10,000 to over 60, and now with the migrant crisis, well over a 100,000.
11:52:20
I've spoken with and worked with thousands of people struggling with the traumas of homelessness desperately trying to heal and rebuild their lives and learn many of their stories.
11:52:30
To real rebuild one's life without safe decent affordable housing is an almost instrumentable task.
11:52:35
So in addition to myself, I'm also here to speak on behalf of thousands of good and decent people who are just looking for a chance to make it.
11:52:43
With those people in mind, I applaud New York City Department of Planning for putting forward this bold and innovative plan to enable New York City to live up to its great promise, and I trust you will skillfully respond to the testimony offered today and in the future.
11:52:57
Fundamental to all great faith traditions is the commands of standing solidarity with those who are struggling.
11:53:02
And New York City should do no less.
11:53:04
New York's faith community stands ready to do our part, but we need New York zoning rules to enable us to do so.
11:53:10
Have we heard as we've heard from so many testifying today, change can be very frightening.
11:53:14
It's only human to fear change, but I submit to you that for the tens of thousands in our shelters, and on our streets.
11:53:20
Hundreds of thousands struggling to pay their rent or desperately seeking an apartment that they can afford.
11:53:26
Their fear is not of change, but of the status quo.
11:53:30
It will take all of us to address this affordability and homelessness crisis, the city of yes, for for housing opportunities and enabling housing for many income levels, will mean that more of the lowest income New Yorkers will have greater opportunity to rebuild their lives and give back to our great city.
11:53:46
With the crisis disproportion, Inaction is not an option.
11:53:51
US New Yorkers must seize this moment to act and act boldly, quoting from the Hebrew Bible, Those among you shall rebuild the old waste places.
11:53:59
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations, and you shall be called the repairs of the breach restores of how of homes to dwell in.
11:54:08
Let us now commit ourselves to raise up foundations of many generations.
11:54:12
Let us at this time be known as the repairs of the breach, restores of streets to dwell in.
11:54:17
Thank you.

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