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Amid Heat Wave, Eligible New Yorkers Can Apply for State’s Air Conditioner Subsidy—For Now
The Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP)’s cooling assistance benefit has helped tens of thousands of low-income New Yorkers beat the heat. But experts and advocates say it could do more, criticizing its limited reach—funding has run out by mid- to late-July the last two summers—and failure to grant complementary utility bill assistance.
NYC Stabilized Tenants to See Third Round of Rent Hikes in Adams Era
Civil disobedience led to arrests Monday evening as a vote cued up rent increases of 2.75 percent on one-year leases and 5.25 percent on two-year leases for the city’s rent stabilized tenants. Tenants across roughly 1 million New York City apartments are facing rent increases of 2.75 percent on...
Opinion: ICE Detention Kills. New York Must End Its Complicity.
“President Biden’s failure to divest from for-profit detention centers during his presidential term should urge New York leaders to use their constitutional powers to stop state and local facilities from continuing to profit from ICE detention.”. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, originally intended to meet administrative hearing...
NYC Housing Calendar, June 17-24
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon. Welcome to City Limits’ NYC Housing Calendar, a weekly feature where we round up the latest housing and land use-related events and hearings, as well as upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
‘We Don’t Move like We Used To’: NYCHA Seniors React to Planned Unarmed Security Cut
With two weeks left until NYCHA plans to eliminate its security program at senior buildings, tenants weigh in on their safety needs. Terry Campuzano, tenant association president at Meltzer Tower, a 20-story senior building in Lower Manhattan, wants to expand security guard service hours at his complex. Following a May...
Opinion: Investing in Future New Yorkers With ‘Baby Bonds’
“With investments starting at just $1,000 per newborn, the next generation of New Yorkers will be better prepared to thrive.”. My wife and I are about to have our first baby. I’m over the moon. I want to do everything I can to prepare for this new addition. We’ve...
City’s Yearly Street Homeless Estimate Climbs to 2nd Highest Number on Record
“There were a lot of systems that weren’t working perfectly before COVID, and then during COVID really broke down and haven’t necessarily come back all the way,” Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park told City Limits in an interview Thursday. The city’s annual estimate for...
City Limits Earns Silurians Press Club Honors
City Limits received Merit Awards in environmental journalism and feature photography, and also collaborated on one of the projects that earned the top investigative reporting prize. City Limits’ earned three honors Wednesday from the Silurians Press Club, a prestigious and now century-old organization that represents New York-area journalists. The nonprofit...
NYC Council Asks: Who Should Pay the Broker Fee?
Hundreds of tenants and brokers descended on City Hall Wednesday to debate legislation that would stop landlords from passing broker fees on to tenants. Friends Vlad Prikhodko and Jessica Johnson came to City Hall Park Wednesday morning after seeing an Instagram post from Brooklyn Councilmember Chi Ossé. They wanted to rally for legislation that would save them from paying rental brokers they do not hire.
Bonnie Brower and the Art of Unfiltered Advocacy
Harry DeRienzo, president emeritus and special advisor at the Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association, reflects on the legacy of New York City housing organizer and advocate Bonnie Brower, who passed away on June 2. Harry DeRienzo, president emeritus and special advisor at the Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association, reflects on...
Opinion: Borough Jails Must Move Forward, With Guidance From Impacted People
“When the state takes away a person’s liberty, it bears a serious obligation to provide them proper care, and the built environment is a big part of that. Cutting our jail population significantly and overhauling the material conditions that people live in will be a massive victory.”. Last fall,...
NYC Housing Calendar, June 11-17
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon. Welcome to City Limits’ NYC Housing Calendar, a weekly feature where we round up the latest housing and land use-related events and hearings, as well as upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
Opinion: The Art of Participatory Budgeting
“By voting on The People’s Money, New Yorkers are not just selecting projects; they are participating in a shared vision for our city’s future.”. In the heart of New York City, a vibrant revolution is unfolding. Sunshine-yellow “Sunnies,” small clay sculptures adorned with bright red hearts, are emerging across our beloved city. These figures are not merely art installations; they are symbols of democratic engagement, urging New Yorkers aged 11 and up to participate in “The People’s Money,” our citywide participatory budgeting initiative. The deadline to vote is June 12.
NYC Plans to Expand Public Restrooms. Will it Benefit Homeless New Yorkers?
While city officials cited the importance of restrooms for all residents of the city, highlighting the needs of young children and older New Yorkers, homeless people also rely heavily on public bathrooms, but face particular difficulty in accessing them, experts and advocates say. Mayor Eric Adams’ announcement this week to...
City Council Passes Bills to Survey Migrants’ Health Needs and Work Obstacles
“We must accumulate data to understand how the city has supported work permit applications, entrepreneurship, workforce development initiatives, and access to health care in order to identify the gaps in our efforts,” said the bill’s sponsor, Councilwoman Carlina Rivera. Lea la versión en español aquí.
Opinion: Pushing for Answers About New York’s COVID Response
“Families like mine deserve more from our state leaders than platitudes and delayed, toothless studies. We deserve truth, transparency and real accountability.”. In 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul promised to bring out “the good, the bad, and ugly” about New York’s COVID-19 response. However, four years after such excruciating and heartbreaking deaths, we are still waiting for any significant action in our home state as members of Congress in Washington, D.C. get ready to question former Gov. Andrew Cuomo about the state’s handling of COVID.
Demand for Section 8 Waitlist More than Double Available Slots—And Counting
Hundreds of thousands of waitlist applications began pouring in at midnight on Monday and will continue to be accepted online up until 11:59 p.m. this coming Sunday, June 9. The New York City Housing Authority had received 409,099 applications from households seeking coveted, federally-backed rental assistance vouchers as of 7 a.m. Wednesday—the equivalent of more than 7,400 submissions per hour and more than double the volume that will ultimately land on the city’s revamped Section 8 waitlist.
Bill Seeks to Boost NYC’s Composting Capacity With More Borough-Based Sites
Most of the food scraps and yard waste collected by the city isn’t getting composted. Instead, it’s being turned into fuel to heat people’s homes—and that’s not actually great for the environment, climate advocates say. New Yorkers might be surprised to learn that only 20...
Opinion: Safeguarding Children’s Right to Remain Silent in New York
“New York has an opportunity to become one of the first states to require that children speak with a lawyer before waiving their right to remain silent.”. Remember what it was like to be a teenager? Raging hormones. Awkwardness and insecurity. The pressures of young adulthood at a time when your understanding of the world was still incredibly fresh. Teenage brains function differently even in normal settings, exhibiting slower thinking, less impulse control, and lower social intelligence. But when put through the stress of a police interrogation, these characteristics become a recipe for disaster.
Opinion: New York’s So-Called ‘Clean Fuel Standard’ Is Anything But
“If New York follows California’s lead on this, we risk running into one of the biggest concerns arising from the program—an oversupply of credits from renewable diesel and dairy biogas that negatively disrupts fuel prices and floods methane emissions into the atmosphere.”. Many New Yorkers, like Californians, are...
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