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We're past the midpoint of our fundraising drive, and we've already raised over 36k! But we still have a ways to go to meet our goal. If you haven't given, please do! NYC needs a pro-housing movement for many reasons. We hope you'll join us. (THREAD) https://chuffed.org/project/opennewyork/
New York boomed in the 2010s, gaining 800k jobs between 2009-2018. But outside a few high-profile developments, that boom didn’t translate into housing––we built fewer homes this past decade than during the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression.
People still moved here for those new jobs––according to @NYCComptroller, 500k moved to the city between 2009-2018. But with rental vacancies already at emergency levels, ~100k new homes could only house so many. NYC housing became a perverse game of musical chairs.
As rents rose, some tenants crammed into ever-more crowded apartments. Others moved to more aff. neighborhoods, pricing out previous residents in the process. Far too many found themselves without a home at all, as homelessness reached levels unseen since the Great Depression.
By contrast, allowing more homebuilding puts that process in reverse, meeting demand for housing in new buildings and taking pressure off already existing housing. You can build your way to a more affordable city. https://www.sightline.org/2017/09/21/yes-you-can-build-your-way-to-affordable-housing/
And new homes have even more benefits.
And new homes have even more benefits.
Care about stopping climate change? Every new New Yorker is a climate victory. The average New Yorker’s carbon footprint is 30% of the average American’s, largely because it is possible to live here without a car. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/10/18/green-manhattan
Looking to further racial justice? Exclusionary zoning is one of the chief drivers of racial segregation, and the New York metro is the 2nd-most segregated in the US. Building a racially equitable city will require tearing down these invisible walls. https://gothamist.com/news/maps-reveal-a-starkly-segregated-nyc
Want economic growth? A 2015 study by Chiang-Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti found that land use controls in NYC, SF, and San Jose alone have left the US economy 13.5% smaller than it would be otherwise. Allowing a fraction of this growth would be a significant boost to prosperity.
So if you want an affordable, racially–equitable, sustainable and even more prosperous city, please consider making a donation. We’re one of the only civic organizations fighting for abundant housing, and we also have proven experience doing so. https://chuffed.org/project/opennewyork/
Since 2018, we have successfully advocated for 1000s of homes across multiple projects, and our SoHo plan alone would result in 3,400 new homes, almost 700 afford. Please help us take our activism to the next level and end NYC's housing shortage for good. https://chuffed.org/project/opennewyork/
