Part 3:
Beyond Speculation: Fighting Forward Together for Housing & Racial Justice
The current pandemic has hit Black and Brown and unhoused people the hardest, exposing deep inequities and leaving millions without work and threatened with evictions. Meanwhile, the Black Lives Matter movement has mobilized hundreds of thousands of people demanding our officials reckon with the deep-seeded racism in our systems and institutions, including housing.
As eviction moratoriums near expiration, commercial spaces go vacant, and real estate prices begin to fall, NYC housing organizations have a critical opportunity to move properties out of the speculative market and into community ownership. To ensure a just recovery from COVID-19, we can use our preservation efforts to expand proven models of permanently affordable housing and community stewardship of land that promote self-determination and equitable development in Black and Brown communities.
This moment calls us to act quickly and collectively. Our first step is to come together to understand the landscape of housing preservation and justice work in New York, both past and present, and imagine a different future together. We know that many of our organizations and coalitions are already working on pieces of this project. At this convening we will have the chance to learn from each other, identify common goals, and explore opportunities for broader collaboration.