Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Unveils 'Housing New York' in The Bronx: A Five-Borough, 10-Year Housing Plan to Protect and Expand Affordability

May 5, 2014

Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a5ZaYZOQTw

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Okay. Part two of our affordable housing tour. Taking it north here to the Bronx. That’s right. All right. I’ll give you a little Bronx pride there.

[Applause]

Yes. Ruben Diaz Jr. taught me that, now I do it everywhere I go. I want to welcome the leaders of this administration who played such a crucial role in development of this affordable housing plan. I want to say it at the outset. I won’t go into all the detail I went into earlier, but I’ll say it at the outset. This is the largest affordable housing plan in the history of New York City. In fact, the largest plan in the history of any city in the United States of America. It will be the fastest, largest, most ambitious affordable housing plan ever. And a lot of people worked long and hard over these last four months very intensively to prepare this plan so that we could create and preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing in the next 10 years. That is an unprecedented pace, and the people who put together this plan deserve immense praise.

I’m going to name them all, and then I’d like you to join me in applause. But let me name all the names first. First a leader of the effort, our Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen; the chair of our City Planning Commission, Carl Weisbrod; our Commissioner of HPD, Vicki Been. We have with us here today as well Deputy Commissioner Eric Enderlin of HPD; Deputy Commissioner Vito Mustaciuolo of HPD, who knows this building well; Assistant Commissioner Kim Darga of HPD. All of them and all the other agencies brought this plan together that will change New York City for the better. Let’s give them all a round of applause.

[Applause]

A lot of great organizations are our partners in the ongoing effort to create and preserve affordable housing, including here on College Avenue. I’d like to thank Harry DiRienzo, the president of Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association.

[Applause]

And Susan Camerata, the chief financial officer of Wavecrest Management.

[Applause]

Now if you’re old enough as I am to remember the old Hebrew National ads that ended by saying the guy answered to a higher authority, this man answers to a higher authority, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. You remember those ads. Okay. Fitzroy Christian of Casa New Settlement, Ian Davie of Legal Services New York City of the Bronx. Thank you Legal Services. All of the community leaders and residents who fought to protect this community and preserve affordable housing, let’s applaud you. Borough President Diaz will be here shortly and he will once again join with me in doing the X.

We’re here with the dean of our New York City Congressional delegation, Congressman Charlie Rangel. Thank you so much for joining us. And exciting, young, vibrant new member of the New York City Council, Vanessa Gibson.

[Applause]

So as I said, the plan we announced today is going to have a far-reaching impact on the people of this city. It’s going to reach every neighborhood, every borough – 200,000 units over 10 years. This is a direct response to the affordability crisis that we have been facing in recent years. This is something – this affordability crisis – I bet a lot of people here could speak to this – it has undermined the very idea that people can live long-term in this city with their families, can live in the neighborhoods they love. For the first time in the history of this city, it’s become more and more of a question whether people can stay in their own neighborhood. And we aim to address that squarely –200,000 units equals enough housing for half a million New Yorkers. So people can actually afford to live in this city. And we made sure that this plan reached folks at the very lowest income levels, straight on up to middle-income, working class people. Make sure that every kind of New Yorker has opportunity under this plan. So it’s still a city for everyone.

There’s an inequality crisis in this city and in this nation. And we won’t address this crisis of inequality if we do things the same old way. We have to do very fundamentally different strategies if we want to address this crisis. That’s why it is the most ambitious plan in history, because it’s a time in history that demands that.

Now, it is just as important to preserve an affordable unit, to make sure it’s clean and safe and good for a family. And keep it affordable. That is just as important as building a new unit. We have to do both. Because every time we lose an affordable housing unit in this city, we take a step backwards. Every time we save one and keep it affordable, we take a step forward for this city. These buildings are a prime example.

And this is not my first time on College Avenue. The last time I was here, we were celebrating, but we were celebrating – Vanessa was here, a lot of you were here. We were celebrating the end of what had been a very troubling time for the residents of these buildings. Because they had fought, not just a bad landlord, not just a very bad landlord, but literally according to our worst landlords watch list that the public advocate’s office created – this was literally the number one worst landlord in New York City the year that we came out here to make the change.

And the people in this building had suffered rats and water-damaged ceilings and holes in walls and floors and unsafe conditions. And not just a few serious housing violations, not only a few times where the law was violated, hundreds of serious housing violations in these buildings. It was fundamentally unacceptable.

And I met the tenants who lived here and I admired their strength and their focus on making things better. And the fact that they were willing to fight no matter how bad the situation was. We used the worst landlords watch list in the public advocate’s office to draw attention and to work with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development to create pressure to change the situation fundamentally.

And I have to tell you, that pressure worked because community residents stood up, tenants stood up, advocates stood up, elected officials, city agencies all came together and said, ‘We’re not going to accept an unacceptable status quo.’ And it was because of organizations like Banana Kelly and Wavecrest Management and Catholic Charities and Casa New Settlement that change came to these buildings. That the bad landlord was moved out. And the people finally had a chance at decent housing. With people invested in the Bronx making sure that that decent housing occurred. And again, let’s give a real warm applause to all the folks who achieved that.

[Applause]

Now, does this mean we’re getting an upgrade from the borough president? Deputy Borough President Aurelia Green. This is your neighborhood. I was just around – I was on your block. I was at the community garden. I was on your block. The deputy borough president has joined us, thank you for being here.

[Applause]

So we made clear that our goal is to protect affordable housing in every neighborhood, to end the reality of people being priced out and forced out of their own neighborhoods. This plan – based on all the public investment, all the actions we’re going to take using every tool of city government and pushing hard for our state and federal partners to do all they can do – this plan will result in a total investment of over $41 billion, $41 billion over 10 years in all five boroughs. And again, a half million people will get housing under this plan, affordable housing. Let me put that in perspective for you. A half million people – because we’re New Yorkers, big numbers just don’t register with us because we’re already the biggest. But let me give you some perspective. A half million people is more than the entire population of Kansas City, Missouri. It is more than the entire population of Atlanta, Georgia. It is more than the entire population of Miami, Florida. We’re going to create that much and preserve that much housing for people who need it.

[Applause]

You’re going to hear in a moment from some of the heroes of this fight here, and some of the people who helped preserve this housing and make sure it was quality, affordable housing. I want to emphasize, affordable housing isn’t good enough if it’s substandard. It has to be quality, decent affordable housing a family can actually live in. And what was happening here before the change was made just wasn’t fair to the people who lived here.

So we’re looking for quantity and quality. And we have the plan, now comes the really hard part. It’s hard enough to create a plan in four months for such an ambitious goal . But making it happen every single day takes the real work. And we have a very dedicated team ready to do it. And one thing I’ll tell you – if you had seen these meetings leading up to today, you would have sensed what I sensed, urgency. Everyone involved in this wants action now. No one’s resting on any laurels. They know there’s a crisis that requires – it requires a solution now.

I want to refer to  a moment in history very much like this, a deep economic crisis, people struggling to make ends meet. And our greatest mayor ever took office, Fiorello LaGuardia, 1934. He saw a crisis in housing. He saw people not only unable to pay for housing, he saw so many people living in squalor in tenements all over this city. And he said it can’t continue this way. And even in the midst of economic crisis, he said we have to do something fundamentally different. Within one month of taking office, he had created the New York City Housing Authority. And changed the face of affordable housing forever in this city. It became a model for the whole nation. At the time, LaGuardia said very clearly he would not accept inaction from the city and he wouldn’t accept inaction from Washington. He said, ‘We have had nothing but conferences. The thing to do is get architects and engineers and start building houses. That is the attitude that we have. It’s time to get the architects and the engineers. It’s time to work with the community organizations to preserve housing and to create new housing. It’s time to build so the people of our city can live in the city they love. Quick moment in Spanish before I then introduce a few of our colleagues.

[Mayor delivers remarks in Spanish]

With that, it would have been my honor to introduce the borough president. He’s really a great guy. But as I said, we got an upgrade to Deputy Borough President Aurelia Green. Please step forward.

[Applause]

Bronx Deputy Borough President Aurelia Green: Good afternoon and thank you all for being here. It is truly a wonderful day here in the Bronx. I want to thank you Mayor de Blasio for choosing my neighborhood in order to make this great announcement. Can you imagine all of that affordable housing? Do you realize the number of people who are begging for housing? We have them constantly coming into our office and to know that this is going to happen over the next ten years is phenomenal. It’s not just phenomenal, it is fantastic. It is great. Thank you mayor.

Mayor: You can speak anytime.

[Laughter]

Bronx Deputy Borough President Green: I just want to thank all of you who are out here in support of this, because it is something that is so vitally needed. And here he is. I am so glad to be able to introduce my partner in government. So you see you even have a greater upgrade.

Mayor: Your timing is impeccable.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr: Thank you everyone. Thank you Madame Deputy. Thank you Mr. Mayor for this wonderful announcement. Of course, your entire administration for –

Mayor: Did you run from River Avenue the whole way?

Bronx Borough President Diaz: No, I actually slowed down because there’s a slow zone on the Grand Concourse.

[Applause]

Bronx Borough President Diaz: So I came down the Concourse. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to have Mayor de Blasio here making another huge announcement. It’s amazing what you’ve been able to roll out as mayor in just a short time, whether it’s universal pre-K. You know, you’ve had your hands full with – just yesterday, I’ve got to say this. It’s not germane to this topic, but we stood with your transportation commissioner and it showed how government can work with the community, with the new bridge at the City Island. And so we want to thank you. I want to thank you for that Mr. Mayor. Today we started and we kicked off our Bronx Week Celebration, ladies and gentlemen. And what better way to also have Mayor de Blasio come here to our borough and announce this initiative, to have housing made available to all New Yorkers who are seeking housing.

Now, the one thing I want to thank you as I look over the executive summary is that there’s some clarity. There’s clarity now on the different levels of housing. And that’s important because so many times, so many folks come to us and we’re not able to define exactly what’s low-income, what’s middle-income, what’s mixed-income. And I know that you’re going to do a lot of preservation and rehabbing. And that’s important in our borough. But I’m also here to say that I’m willing and prepared. And we are, as Bronx elected officials here and the community. We’re prepared to work with you, with Alicia Glen, with all of your administration so that as we move forward, not only will we protect those units that are affordable today, but that we also ensure that there’s diversity because as so many different professionals in our Bronx – yes, there are professionals in the Bronx who want to stay here, who perhaps are making too much money for the low-income bracket, but obviously don’t make enough money to buy their own homes and to purchase condos. So Mr. Mayor, this is huge. This is big. You’ve been doing it in a big and huge way. I want to congratulate you and commend you and let you know that on behalf of 1.4 million Bronxites, we are extending our hand to work with you, to work with the administration, all of the elected officials. And again, thank you for being here today. And if there’s anything that needs to be said about housing, it’s that the Bronx is strong. The Bronx is big because of the housing stock that’s here. And you, as mayor of the City of New York being with us here today, are going to continue to contribute to that. So congratulations.

[Bronx Borough President Diaz delivers remarks in Spanish]

[Applause]

Mayor: Before I bring up Congressman Rangel, two points. One that we had a lot of questions at the previous press conference about how to interpret the numbers by income in our plan, because what the federal government requires is talking about AMI, area median income. So on page 19 of the plan, you will find the handy chart that expresses in plain English and real income terms what we’re doing with our plan. One of the things that will be abundantly clear, four times as many units will be built for the lowest income New Yorkers under this plan than under the affordable housing plan of the previous administration. You get a sense there of the way we’re spreading out the units and the kind of volume that we’re putting together here. I also want to welcome – I mentioned the young, dynamic Vanessa Gibson. Also dynamic and the youngest in the City Council – a rising star and someone who’s going to be a crucial partner – I want to acknowledge and thank the chair of the public housing committee of the City Council, Richie Torres. Thanks for joining us. And with that I welcome our Congressman, Charlie Rangel.

Congressman Charles Rangel: Thank you Mr. Mayor. I am so excited as a New Yorker to see once again – as Mayor LaGuardia has identified a crisis – that he has made this a priority. I cannot wait to make certain that everyone in the New York delegation that has these problems – as well as those in the United States Congress and working with our secretary of HUD. What I find so exciting is that we’re not talking about luxury housing. Everywhere I go, people talk about 80-20, including putting luxury housing in NYCHA. This mayor is talking about what the crisis is. We have no crisis in luxury housing. If you’ve got the bucks, you can get the housing. But we cannot afford – with the great job we’ve done in the old congressional district in Manhattan and moving here and I’m honored to serve in the Bronx – we did such a great job that now the luxury people are coming up. They’re not going to take away our community after we worked so hard. So Mr. Mayor, I cannot tell you how proud I am of your leadership, how proud I am to be in New York. And this is going to be a national program, but we’ve got to get our money first. Thank you.

Mayor: This is a man who understands his priorities. Now I want to bring up a man who’s really been a hero of the fight for affordable housing, and one of the many heroes who saved these units here for hardworking people, Harry DiRienzo of Banana Kelly.

[Applause]

Harry DiRienzo, President, Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association: Thank you Mr. Mayor. I’m very happy to be here today. In order to do a project like this where you’re preserving housing, preserving a neighborhood, getting rid of a terrible landlord – the worst landlord at a certain time – and also protecting tenancies and making sure people can stay in their homes, it takes a lot of work by a lot of people. First it takes the people themselves. They have to be willing to come out of their isolation and work together for something collectively. That’s not easy. It’s easier than it sounds, but it’s not easy. Then you need some mobilizing force. Casa New Settlement was the organizers here. They brought together – they facilitated the organizing process. You need public attention. We got that public attention from our former public advocate, current mayor Bill de Blasio, who put a spotlight on a terrible, terrible landlord. You need legal services. We have Ian Davie here today. We have Stephanie Rudolph here today. Legal services are critical. We needed a bank that handled the mortgage. And because of their first look policy, where they said we’re going to look first to a non-profit before we go ahead and sell it to the market, New York Community Bank sat down with us and negotiated a price that was fair for us but didn’t – was also fair for the bank. Then what else do you need? We were brought in as developers – we’ve been doing this for forty years. We do very well with development, but that wasn’t enough. We needed partners with more capacity and more money, and Wavecrest Management team and FC Equities came in, and between January 2013 and March 2014, had to invest about a million dollars to get the title and to keep these buildings in some kind of decent shape for the good tenants that are here. And they are good tenants, hardworking tenants. Many of them aren’t here because they are working. Then what else do you need? You need experts: our architects, the general contractor, all that. But nothing happens – alright, take any one of those elements away and the whole thing may fall apart, right? CPC, Community Preservation Corporation, they’re a lender, but they’re more like our partners. They sat with us and went through the whole process with us. So many pieces went into this puzzle to make it work. But at the end of the day, without HPD coming in, HPD is the glue that makes all these preservation projects work. And I will say this, I said it before, bar none this is the best housing agency in the country, HPD. And I think we should give them a round of applause.

[Applause]

And Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you for coming in today and thank you for the leadership you put in place, because the people you put in place have the experience, and the knowledge, and the disposition to know that neighborhoods matter. And we are here to say we are your partners, we look forward to working with you and your administration. Thank you very much.

[Applause]

Mayor: Before I ran for office I had a boss who wrote a book, and in that book she said it takes a village to raise a child. I would argue it takes a village also to save affordable housing, to create affordable housing. And in that village, yes, as Harry indicated, you need someone who has money. So we want to thank Wavecrest Management for having stepped up and been a crucial part of this plan. Let’s welcome Susan Camerata.

[Applause]

Susan Camerata, chief financial officer, Wavecrest Management: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We at Wavecrest as both developer and managing agent are extremely excited and proud to be able to be part of this rehab of the College Avenue buildings, and a focus of the mayor’s preservation plan, along with Banana Kelly, our community partner. This was a challenging project from the very beginning. The buildings were in total disrepair, there was no oil, and the tenants were in court to get a seven-day administrator appointed. We started meeting with the tenants almost a year-and-a-half ago, and engaged and apprised them of our negotiations as they evolved. With the help and partnership of so many, we were able to close on the project at the end of March, and have begun the work that was so badly needed. The improvements we will be making are new kitchens and bathrooms, new windows, new roofs, new plumbing and electric, and a new gas boiler. So following the mayor’s plan, we’re making these improvements. They’ll create energy savings and ensure long-term affordability. The commitment of the tenants above all, along with Susanna Blankley of CASA , was integral in our ability to purchase the buildings and ultimately begin the rehab. There’s cooperation from many others – Chris Beck of New York Community Bank, who provided interim financing; our partners, Dave Schwartz, Marty Horowitz, and Harry DiRienzo; Andrew Giglio of Community Preservation Corp.; and Eric Enderlin of HPD, who are providing the current financing. This partnership proved – this partnership of public, private, and community organizers can work together in order to achieve the results that our entire group desired – to preserve existing housing, and to provide safe, decent, and affordable housing without displacing the tenants. It’s with gratitude and pride that we’re able to be here today to see the fruition of Mayor de Blasio’s initiative as Public Advocate of the Landlord Watch List, which was instrumental in our ability to purchase the building from the prior owner, and now to be part of the mayor’s new preservation plan. We thank Mayor de Blasio, Deputy Mayor Glen, the Bronx borough president for their continued support on this project, and we look forward to working with the mayor and his administration on other preservation projects in the future. But above all, above all, we thank the tenants. It’s their perseverance in demanding that they were entitled to decent housing –

[Applause]

And their faith in our team to provide that to them. Thank you very much. Thank you Mr. Mayor.

[Applause]

Mayor: Finally before we take questions, I want to note – so often this city government turns to a partner, whether it’s in affordable housing, whether it’s in social services, healthcare, helping our seniors, helping our children. One of the most important partners we have is Catholic Charities. And the man who makes Catholic Charities work for all the people in New York City is Monsignor Kevin Sullivan.

[Applause]

Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, executive Director, catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York: Mr. Mayor, I bring the greetings of the Cardinal, who would be here himself, except he is in the Middle East supporting and reviewing the work of Catholic Near East Welfare Association. But you know, more important than his greetings, I do bring his support that it’s critically important that we deal with affordable housing. And from our perspective, the reason is just very, very simple. There are many good reasons to support affordable housing, but from our perspective, it’s just one – it is a basic human right, and every person made in the image and likeness of God deserves a decent place to live. And when that doesn’t happen, there is such a threat that we need to address it. And Mr. Mayor, I’m pleased that you’ve come here to the Bronx in addition to Brooklyn because right behind us, they – through Jorge Batista and Monsignor Sakano, over the past three decades – almost 2,000 units of housing have been preserved in Highbridge. And you know why Highbridge is so important? Because it overlooks the cathedral of baseball, which is not Fenway Park, but is Yankee Stadium.

[Laughter]

Mayor: No comment.

Monsignor Sullivan: But in addition to that, if you go a little bit further south and you cross the RFK-Triborough Bridge, Catholic Charities in Brooklyn and Queens, Bishop DiMarzio, Robert Seybold, John [inaudible], have done over 4,000 units of housing for some of the most difficult families that have the most trying needs. But enough about the past. We’re here because just a mile away from here is Saint Augustine’s Church on Franklin Avenue Hill. And for more than three centuries – or, spanning three centuries – that was sacred worship space. That community now is small and still vibrant, and can worship in a neighboring parish. But the archdiocese has taken down that church building. And that site stands ready to be part of your affordable housing plan. And just as for three centuries it was sacred space, it still will be sacred space. Because when a site houses human people, their families are raised, the human person is honored, and that is sacred space. So for all the others in the Bronx, Monsignor Jenik, the community-based organizations, the religious communities, the Ursulines, the Dominicans, the Sisters of Charity, we stand ready to work with you on this initiative. Thank you so much.

[Applause]

Mayor: Thank you Monsignor, and Alicia Glen will draw up the contract right now. We’re moving fast, I told you we’re moving fast with the plan. Excellent. With that, I want to thank everyone who’s been a part of this, and we will welcome questions on this topic, on the affordable housing plan. Yes?

Question: I’ve got three questions. First, what is the income breakdown of the affordable housing? Is it going to be 20 percent low income?

Mayor: Are you talking about the whole plan?

Question: Yeah.

Mayor: Okay, so we’ll go over that.

Question: More specifically, what percentage is going to be for people who make under $50,000 median income in New York? Second question is what can be done to preserve housing as long as rent-control laws [inaudible] regulation? And the third question is was there any consideration of [inaudible] in a Westchester-style project? And if not, what is the obstacle for them?

Mayor: Alright, a lot of questions. Let me do – but all erudite – okay, on the Penn South and the Westchester-style project, Alicia will speak to what we’re going to be doing to try and preserve some of the existing other types of affordable housing and how we’re going to foster not exactly that model, but new initiatives. Alicia will do the income mix with you, the range of units, etcetera. What was the second one again?

Question: You talked a lot about [inaudible] preserving housing? You could argue the biggest obstacle is –

Mayor: Is sure, enforcement. Good. Yeah, so first of all, we’re going to fight hard in Albany to preserve and strengthen rent regulation. I’ve said many times that I think it’s something that New York City should get to make its own decisions about for our own tenants, and we will continue that effort. We also are going to beef up intensely enforcement efforts. This story right here is the result of intensified enforcement in terms of housing violations that led us on a pathway to a new owner and a new and better situation for the tenants. Every day in New York City, there are unfortunately examples of tenants being quietly or sometimes quite aggressively pushed out of affordable housing. We’re going to beef up the enforcement staff at HPD to fight against that. We’re going to go after landlords who unfortunately are violating the law more aggressively, often they are the same ones doing these kinds of unfortunate, negative activities to push out tenants. We’re going to make sure that landlords that have a lot of housing violations don’t have an easy time getting other types of city business and other types of city contracts. So we think the combined efforts there are going to change the dynamics and help us protect affordability where exists. We’re also going to make some smart investments in affordability, helping landlords for example with some of the energy efficiency repairs that they have to make so that those buildings can stay affordable. So there’s a host of things to protect existing affordability. Let me have Alicia speak to the other two questions.

Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen: So I’ll be brief. On the Penn South type question, one of the things we’re very focused on is being more proactive with our preservation efforts, so that when we know that a Mitchell-Lama or another subsidized housing project is getting close to the end of its regulatory period, we’re already proactively working with those owners and tenants to see what tools we have in our toolbox to allow those buildings to stay affordable for a long period of time. And that will be a variety of different things, like providing low-cost capital, or working to design an appropriate tax-exemption so that they can stay affordable for the long run. So first of all, we’re going to get very proactive and not just wait for the disaster to happen. With respect to the income mixes, again, this is a plan and our target is really to do two things I think that are very important. One is we’re going to quadruple the number of extremely and very low-income families who are served by this plan. And as the mayor likes to say, what does that mean in real life? That means that families who earn as little as $24,000 a year for a family of four are now going to be targeted to get really quality housing in our new construction and preservation programs. But at the same time, as the borough president said, there’s a huge number of moderate and middle income families who also feel very rent-burdened. And so we’re really also looking to improve the number of families we can serve on that end of the income stream, because we really want to see mixed-income, diverse communities.

Question: [inaudible]

Deputy Mayor Glen: It’s in the plan. More than 50 percent of the total production and preservation will be targeted to folks at or below 50 percent of AMI.

Question: Mr. Mayor, given the fact that something like this takes time to have an effect on the amount of supply in the housing market and pricing, how long do you think it’ll take for New Yorkers to feel the benefits of this initiative?

Mayor: Well, some of it’s happening right now. The examples I gave earlier I want to repeat, that we had four developments where our new philosophy, our new strategy already had an impact. And I want to credit Deputy Mayor Glen for her forceful approach to negotiation, one I wholeheartedly commend. And the same approach that we’ve seen from our Chair of City Planning Carl Weisbrod and our HPD Commissioner Vicki Been. We looked at the Domino site in Brooklyn, we thought we could get more affordable units in there and more units for lower-income families than existed in the original plan. Through opening up that negotiation again, we were able to achieve that. We looked at the Hudson Yards project. We thought we could get more affordability in and more living wage jobs in, we achieved that. We looked at the Cornerstone project in the Upper West Side, we thought there was room for more affordable units, we achieved that. The same with the Lighthouse project in Staten Island. So right now, even the projects that are underway are being reworked to up the affordability numbers, and in many of those projects, you’re going to start to see units online in the near term. You’re going to see a real increase over the next year as this plans starts to take full effect. And I think the best way to think of this is it’s an ongoing, intense operation. Every single day, we’re trying to get more units online. And the preserve units, of course, are the ones we can do faster in many cases. So people will start to feel it. Some this year and next year, even more in the years thereafter. Yeah?

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Okay let’s get – is Vito in the crowd? The world’s leading expert on this? Or Alicia can take this, for calling in about specific violations in units, 311 or something else?

Deputy Mayor Glen: We have 311 and then I hate to call out to the crowd, but Vito Mustaciulo is in the house, and what is the number for housing violations? Other than 311?

Mayor: Is it just 311 or any other number?

Deputy Mayor Glen: Is it all running through 311 or do you also have a separate number at HPD to report serious violations?

Vito Mustaciulo, Deputy Commissioner, HPD: [inaudible] referral [inaudible]

Deputy Mayor Glen: So do both. Do 311 and work with your local community groups, who can also aggregate all of that information and share it with the agency.

Mayor: Yeah, and I want to emphasize – and I appreciate the question, because as we just heard, the only way we’re going to be able to address these problems is if people report them. So we urge tenants who are experiencing inappropriate actions by bad landlords, who are not getting heat and hot water, who are not getting repairs they deserve, we urge them to call 311. And obviously if there are community organizations like Banana Kelly or CASA New Settlement or whatever is in their neighborhood that’s ready to work with them, get those community organizations involved as well. Melissa?

Question: Mr. Mayor, can you [inaudible]

Mayor: I’m going to start – look, the notion here is, we talk about in the plan a variety of individuals we want to help. We talk about people who need supportive housing, there’s going to be a segment of the plan for that. A segment of the plan for seniors. We talk about folks who are in shelter, and some of those obviously are victims of domestic violence. We believe fundamentally that this affordable housing plan is going to be one of the ways we reduce the number of people in shelter, including victims of domestic violence. So I think that the plan will help assist a lot of other efforts we have underway to help make sure that victims of domestic violence get to long term solutions.

Question: [inaudible] we haven’t heard a lot of that [inaudible] will make one city more than any [inaudible]?

Mayor: I never stopped talking about the tale of two cities, I assure you. And I talked about the crisis of inequality, which is really what this plan is meant to address. And the fact is, this is one of the most fundamental things we will do. When I talked about the plan earlier, I said look, the crisis of affordability, the crisis of inequality are all obviously connected. This city has become harder and harder for working people to live in. It is one of the examples of a bigger crisis of inequality that’s happened in this city and this nation, where wages and benefits have been pushed down, costs keep going up, inequality in so many forms exists and we have to address it. We’re trying to increase wages and benefits in a lot of different ways, including legislation like paid sick leave. But the other reality is the number one expense that families face in this city in housing. And so, another way to address income inequality is to reduce the cost of housing for working people. That’s what this plan focuses on specifically; again, the largest affordable housing plan by any city in the history of this country. So it’s taking dead aim at the inequality crisis. And you’re right, dealing with the fact that we do have a tale of two cities today and trying to move us toward a reality of one city.

Question: I know that we just got this plan [inaudible] goals, but not necessarily how we’re going to get there. Are you satisfied with that? And two, for the Congressman, you talked about how you wanted to see this as a plan that would be a model for the rest of the nation, could you talk more about that and how you expect that to happen [inaudible]?

Mayor: Okay, you start. I defer to the gentleman. 

Congressman Rangel: I said earlier, New York City is New York City. I can hardly think of anything that we have done, not just housing, that hasn’t been a model. I work very closely with Republicans and Democrats that have the same problems that we have. We have more of those problems and we have better answers than most. So I’m talking about something like a reversible tax credit, where 30 percent is the max that we pay. But it fits right into one plan that we’re going to have, and I’ll be able to take advantage of the thinking of the mayor with HPD, so that when we get finished with the state, New York once again will say this is a serious problem, this is how we’re handling it, and take a look at it. So I’m – this is one of the most exciting things that happened. You notice the mayor never talked about luxury housing. I’ve been waiting for that for a long time. Let the rich find the market place, and thank you for that.

Mayor: Thank you, Congressman. We’re very satisfied with this plan. It’s a very detailed plan. It shows a number of substantial departures from past policy. We’re setting out very ambitious goals. By the way, we’re setting out ambitious goals so everyone here can hold us to them. And especially the people I work for are here, who are the residents of this city, we could have come in with a lesser plan. We wanted the plan that we thought was absolutely the outer limit of what could be achieved in a decade. We talked about the different approaches we’re going to take, to the tools we have. We’ve talked about a different approach in terms of reaching people at lower income levels. There’s a lot of specifics in this plan that indicate major departures, major changes form the past. And, like every other plan we’ve come out with, including out pre-K and after-school plan, we will have a series of announcements in the months hereafter to keep adding additional pieces to the plan. When we came out with the pre-K and after-school plan, some people questioned the specificity of it until we came out with our teacher recruitment plan, our parent outreach plan, our space acquisition plan. And then it became very clear that all the pieces were falling into place. You’re going to see the same progression here. Wait, someone who hasn’t gone yet. Yes?

Question: The Bronx has the highest number of rent-controlled [inaudible]. Will priority be given to the borough of the Bronx [inaudible]?

Mayor: Priority is going to be given to where the need is greatest, but it is clearly a five borough plan. So the notion here is every neighborhood will be positively affected. There’s a lot of neighborhoods that people are being priced out of all over. There’s a lot of neighborhoods that have struggled and continued to struggle. This is a truly citywide plan. But there’s no question in my mind that the Bronx will benefit very particularly. We’ve got a lot of people here ready to do more preservation, so one of the things is, who is ready to make it happen – that’s where some of the action is going to go immediately. But I know the Bronx will get a lot done through this plan. Thanks everyone.