Climate reporter
New York Focus, June 27, 2022 Recent transmission projects could enable building owners to get out of upgrading their buildings for a decade, if Adams doesn’t intervene. In 2019, New York City passed a landmark climate law, hailed as the most ambitious to be enacted by any U.S. city. Its centerpiece took aim at buildings, … Continue reading Will Eric Adams Let Landlords Buy Their Way Out Of Energy Upgrades?
“By April 1, it will be out or modified. It will not be this program,” one legislator predicted.
New York Focus, November 18, 2021 The fight heated up at a hearing Wednesday, with debate centered on when, not if, a gas ban should go into effect. It wouldn’t be the first, but it would be by far the biggest. Yesterday afternoon, the New York City Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection held a marathon … Continue reading NYC Could Ban Gas in New Buildings This Year
Two progressive organizers opposed to the 485-a program just won City Council races but won’t take their seats until next year. Mayor Lovely Warren has directed the Council to vote on the renewal this week.
New York Focus, October 21, 2021 There’s a growing trend of landlords changing locks and shutting off utilities to get tenants out without going to court, tenant organizers say. Published in partnership with City & State. Tamel Anderson thought he had finally found himself an apartment in a nice part of town. This spring, he … Continue reading Illegal Evictions Are Rising Across The State, But Landlords Rarely Face Consequences
Grist, September 29, 2021 American housing authorities may soon see an influx of federal funding. Paris offers lessons in how to spend it. When U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman visited his childhood home in Harlem’s East River Houses last winter, he was struck by a piece of graffiti at the entrance. The tag read, simply, “Help.” … Continue reading Paris shows how to make public housing greener and more habitable at the same time
New York Focus, September 9, 2021 If concrete production were a country, it would be the world’s third largest carbon emitter. New York legislators want to clean it up. Published in partnership with Next City. For climate activists, New York’s 2021 legislative session was a bitter disappointment. Democrats failed to pass any major new climate laws, … Continue reading Inside New York’s Messy Push to Clean Up Concrete
New York Focus, July 21, 2021 On Monday, Albany became the first municipality in New York to pass “good cause” eviction protections, which would bar landlords from evicting tenants or increasing rents more than 5 percent without justification. Despite an extensive opposition campaign from real estate groups, nine of the fifteen members of Albany’s Common … Continue reading Albany Passes ‘Good Cause Eviction,’ In a First for New York
New York Focus, July 16, 2021 In June 2019, following a wave of progressive election victories and a months-long campaign by housing rights organizers, New York State passed its biggest expansion of tenant protections in decades. The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act closed key loopholes in New York’s rent stabilization laws and extended them … Continue reading A Wave of Upstate Cities Could Ban Eviction Without “Good Cause”
New York Focus, June 4, 2021 With a week left in the legislative session, New York lawmakers shelved a plan that aimed to revamp 25,000 NYCHA apartments. Published in partnership with Gotham Gazette. On May 21, with just ten working days to go in this year’s session, New York lawmakers added a major item to … Continue reading How a Tenant Revolt Sank NYCHA’s Biggest Overhaul Plan in Years
Colin Kinniburgh 