Lessons from a conversation with Jessica Katz, Executive Director, Citizens Housing Planning Council

My key takeaways from New York:

  • COVID-19’s dramatic impacts on low-income New Yorkers have brought a renewed sense of urgency to affordable housing policy discussions and decisions.
  • The most focused and intentional policy-making would explicitly identify each policy’s goals and metrics of success from the get-go.

What makes NYC’s story about affordable housing unique?

The scale of affordable housing production in NYC is unique: no other city produces affordable housing at same scale as NYC. (That said, it takes the same amount of work to produce smaller buildings in smaller cities as it does to produce huge buildings in NYC!)

What is the state of affordable housing in NYC today?

Now, in 2021, the dynamics around affordable housing in NYC are more political than they’ve been in years. The pandemic has revealed the reaches of housing inequality and the dire need for more affordable housing and tenant protections in NYC, and candidates throughout the city are highlighting affordable housing in their platforms. With so many City Council and mayoral candidates running for office this year, there are round-the-clock political discussions about affordable housing solutions.

If you could wave a magic wand and change any one policy at any level of government, what would it be and why?

Each piece of legislation should identify what it intends to solve, its costs, and how its success will be measured. Policy challenges stem from lacking value and problem definition, and this approach would create more impactful and implementable policy. Years ago, this suggestion was offered via an anonymous public comment through NYC’s Charter Revision Commission, which was considering potential NYC Charter reforms. (The Charter is like the City’s constitution.)

What makes you hopeful about housing in NYC?

Housing issues seems to be on everybody’s minds right now, which is not always the case. While affordable housing policy work is a social justice movement at its core, sometimes the policy space lacks the drive of its passionate roots. Fresh perspectives about affordable housing issues have surfaced throughout the pandemic, which can be refreshing and energizing for affordable housing professionals.

What are effective ways to include the people most impacted by affordable housing issues in government-level decision making?

In London, public housing residents are formally engaged in decision-making about housing redevelopment that impacts them. There have been real strides in tenant empowerment in London, and CHPC is engaged with modeling a similar approach in New York City Housing Authority-owned housing so that NYCHA tenants can also be part of the decision-making for redevelopment that impacts their homes.