The Lower East Side, the East Village, Chinatown, and Battery Park City are in the midst of a crisis in affordable housing. People, many of whom are long-time residents, are struggling to pay their rents or have been forced to move. The development and gentrification that is taking place should not be allowed to chase people from their homes.
As the makeup of our district has changed, Speaker Sheldon Silver has not kept up with the needs of growing numbers of working families. He has instead allowed landlords to deregulate apartments and has allowed unused plots of land to go undeveloped. Through his insistence on secretly negotiating deals without the input of community members or other legislators, Silver has produced flawed legislation that has weakened affordable housing regulations.
