Serious medical problems. A holdover eviction. An affordable housing shortage. And seemingly no way to access rental assistance:
Here's how quickly a New Yorker can come to the brink of homelessness
For
@Gothamist
-
@WNYC
Three Columbia students sued the school in housing court saying they were illegally locked out of their dorms after being arrested or issued a citation at pro-Palestine protests
Story by
@ramseykhalifeh
for
@Gothamist
-
@WNYC
A Bklyn mom pawned her engagement ring to pay for food. A Bronx mom spent a year borrowing money while she tried to reopen her food stamp case
NYC's SNAP process is in disarray, with 40% of applicants forced to wait for access
New for
@CityLimitsNews
Donella Kandell, a veteran mail carrier, was shopping in Jamaica when she saw
@AOC
@GregMeeksNYC
&
@Tom_Suozzi
speaking out against Trump
@USPS
cuts
“I love what I do, but we don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said. “We already feel the cuts.”
"He did confirm that Hochul had visited his diner...However, one thing he emphatically asserted was that the subject of congestion pricing never came up: 'It’s not my business. I don't talk politics here'"
@lizkimtweets
checks
@GovKathyHochul
's "the diners made me do it" claim
I’m excited to join the amazing team at
@WNYC
-
@Gothamist
where I’ll continue to cover housing
I have listened to WNYC for hours pretty much every day for years, waking up to Morning Edition, washing dishes to New Sounds. I’ve been reading Gothamist just as long. So this is cool
We're thrilled to welcome two more reporters to the
@WNYC
&
@Gothamist
newsroom!
@DavidFBrand
joins as a reporter on the Economics & Equity team, focusing on housing & development, while Kerry Shaw joins as Assistant Day-of Editor.
“Landlords will no longer be allowed to evict tenants in any rental property, including single-family homes, unless there was unpaid rent, documented lease violations, owner move-ins or other specific reasons”
LA passed a version of Good Cause protections
A year ago, Queens cops posed for a photo with a cache of seized guns. The DA charged a Forest Hills woman with 1st degree weapons possession.
The guns aren't real — they're airsofts, toys & starter pistols used in music videos — but the charges still are
It turns out the situation is even worse:
NYC is now processing just 46.3% of food stamp applications on time, officials told the Council
Meanwhile, 20% of budgeted positions are vacant as
@NYCMayor
orders more cuts
W/
@MariamHydara
for
@CityLimitsNews
A Bklyn mom pawned her engagement ring to pay for food. A Bronx mom spent a year borrowing money while she tried to reopen her food stamp case
NYC's SNAP process is in disarray, with 40% of applicants forced to wait for access
New for
@CityLimitsNews
For the 1st time, a community land trust has purchased an apartment building from a private landlord in NYC
The
@EastNewYorkCLT
is now working with tenants on a plan to fix up the building and convert to co-op
So what is a community land trust? Read on:
Queens council candidate Vickie Paladino led the maskless conga line at the Whitestone Republican Club's indoor holiday party earlier this month
Attendees and the restaurant owner said they followed the pre-dining ban rules
Video shared by
@MattBinder
CHECK THIS OUT:
A Brooklyn woman created an online Metrocard exchange to pair work-from-home New Yorkers who don't need their monthlies with essential workers still riding the rails
176 people have signed up so far. Most were matched
🚆
@QueensEagle
🚆
When I visited Adams’ Bed Stuy property for a
@CityLimitsNews
story, no one was home, the mailbox was stuffed (including Maya Wiley lit) and there was an Amazon package on the doorstep. When I went back a few days later, mail and package were still there
Eric Adams has often criticized Andrew Yang for swapping his Manhattan apartment for his Hudson Valley second home during the height of the pandemic.
Yet Adams’ account of his own whereabouts over the years is far from clear.
Manhattan CB2 votes 37-1 in favor of a resolution rejecting the city’s SoHo/NoHo upzoning proposal
The lone “no” vote (meaning he supports the plan) explained his vote to me after the meeting: “33% of people experiencing homelessness are children and children need housing.”
It’s not the high taxes that are driving New Yorkers out of the Empire State — it’s the high cost of housing, according to a new report on out-of-state moves by
@NYFiscalPolicy
For
@Gothamist
More than *100,000 households* have already applied for the Section 8 waiting list this morning
The application portal has only been open for 10 hours, most of those pre-dawn
The stat comes from NYCHA, which administers the largest Section 8 program in NYC
I’m excited to join the amazing team at
@WNYC
-
@Gothamist
where I’ll continue to cover housing
I have listened to WNYC for hours pretty much every day for years, waking up to Morning Edition, washing dishes to New Sounds. I’ve been reading Gothamist just as long. So this is cool
.
@raquelnamuche
speaks next and says “the solution is housing.” She gets screamed at, drowned out by boos and told to leave.
The next speaker says the shelter should be “bombed.”
A reminder: We’re talking about poor people who cant afford rent in New York City.
🧵NEW: It's illegal for NYC landlords to reject renters just because they use a subsidy, like Section 8
But those same laws don't apply to insurers who routinely decline to cover buildings because of subsidized housing, with no accountability
@Gothamist
Naturally, this law comes with deep investments in shelter, supportive housing, rent assistance vouchers and Housing First…
Just kidding. It of course does not
Missouri will soon charge people with a felony ($750 fine, 15 days in jail) if they are found sleeping on state-owned land, such as under highway overpasses and bridges
The state AG can sue towns that don’t comply. Law takes effect Jan 1
via
@stltoday
The biggest landlord in the world is no longer challenging rent-stabilization at the biggest apartment complex in Manhattan
Blackstone just dropped its appeal to a judge's ruling that kept 11K+ units in StuyTown-Peter Cooper Village stabilized
@Gothamist
@WendellPierce
Hi, I’m a reporter covering housing for the NYC public radio station WNYC. I’d love to discuss this with you - could you or a representative DM me or email at dbrand
@wnyc
.org ?
More than *100,000 households* have already applied for the Section 8 waiting list this morning
The application portal has only been open for 10 hours, most of those pre-dawn
The stat comes from NYCHA, which administers the largest Section 8 program in NYC
NYC is now accepting new Section 8 applications for the first time in 15 years
Applicants have 6 days to get their submissions in (the portal closes on Sunday, just before midnight)
Let me know how it goes!
It has been an honor to help build the
@queenseagle
& to cover Queens these past 3 years
Eagle readers: Your tips, info, ideas, contributions and constructive criticism have been crucial to my reporting and growth —Thank you
I’ll be moving on, but the Eagle is in good hands! 🦅
Anthony Campbell speaks after exiting the Four Points Sheraton in Midtown after organizing a protest against
@NYCMayor
’s hotel clearance plan.
Campbell refused to leave the hotel and is calling on the city to move people into permanent homes, not congregate shelters
Spring 2021: The rental market was down. A building owner took in 11 homeless New Yorkers with 1-year rent subsidies worth $200K+
A year later: The rental market got hot. The owner refused to renew their leases or negotiate new terms
All 11 face eviction
“Your instability alone is sufficient reason not to pursue it.”
A Queens woman who says she’s a victim of revenge porn recorded calls with the head of the DA’s Investigations Unit as he explained why he wouldn’t bring charges
“The rent really was too damn high & I knew it was going to get worse"
12 yrs after his 6-word slogan went viral, Jimmy McMillan is still fighting—this time from a Queens nursing home
Catching up with the Rent Is Too Damn High Guy, for
@CityLimitsNews
NEW: Internal emails show City Hall ordered FDNY to cancel scheduled inspections at schools, apartment buildings & a Baruch campus building so a Hudson Yards office tower could cut the line
The office tower failed…then got fast-tracked again
@Gothamist
I spent much of the afternoon with a group of guys from Venezuela & Colombia who arrived in NYC this morning. After a 2-month trip to the US border, they were bused here from Texas in a new state-sponsored political stunt
This is the food that Texas gave them for the trip
Honest analysis of NY bail law needs to define the purpose & function of bail
In theory, bail is set to ensure people have $ incentive to return to court for their next scheduled appearance
In practice, exorbitant bail is set to ensure people remain incarcerated before trial
Missouri will soon charge people with a felony ($750 fine, 15 days in jail) if they are found sleeping on state-owned land, such as under highway overpasses and bridges
The state AG can sue towns that don’t comply. Law takes effect Jan 1
via
@stltoday
The partially-collapsed Bronx building has been hit with more than 100 housing code violations in recent years, plus 3 heat outage complaints in the past month.
One tenant suing the owner pointed to violations for lead paint flaking off the walls
Our story so far 👇
An emergency response is underway due to the "structural collapse" of a building at 1915 Billingsley Tce. in the Bronx on Monday afternoon. The NYPD said that all available units are responding and to avoid the area.
Public Advocate
@JumaaneWilliams
says he will block NYC from collecting property taxes if the Mayor and Council enact a budget without major NYPD funding cuts.
The Charter empowers the PA with a role in the tax collection process — Check it out here
Evictions are on the rise in NYC:
Nearly 4,400 households have been kicked out of their apartments since a freeze on most evictions expired last January
This is happening as NYC’s homelessness crisis surpasses record levels
My story for
@Gothamist
I asked Jorge Lopez if he regretted throwing his glove into the stands. Not only did he say no, he then called the Mets “the worst team in the whole f—cking MLB.”
I later gave him a chance to clarify and he confirmed that’s what he meant.
Yikes. To avoid sanctions for failing to turn over evidence, the NYC lawyer repping the NYPD in civil rights lawsuits stemming from the violent 2020 protest crackdown lied to the judge & forged emails w phony time stamps
@macfathom
—Day One of
@HellGateNY
At least one man has been hospitalized for COVID after attending the Whitestone Republican Club Xmas party
“I wasn’t on the conga line. I ate by myself. I don’t know how I got this," he told me from his hospital room this morning
@QueensEagle
exclusive
A small NYC pilot program has helped 58 people move from the streets and subways into supportive housing more quickly
The key: They can compile onerous eligibility paperwork from an apartment instead of the street or shelter
w
@RRedelmeier
for
@Gothamist
Improbably, Jimmy “The Rent Is Too Damn High” McMillan is back in his East Village apartment after a 10-month stay in a VA nursing home and multiple eviction cases over the last decade
I visited McMillan to check in.
For
@Gothamist
Today is my first day as a staff reporter for
@CityLimitsNews
!
I’ll be on the housing and homelessness beat.
Please send tips, information, ideas, events and updates to david
@citylimits
.org
Or DM me for my cell. Thank you!
To national news outlets covering the Queens mall bomb story:
Queens PLACE is the circular one with the DSW and the wintertime bomb hoax
Queens CENTER is the fancy one with the Cheesecake Factory and the springtime looting hoax
The bail law "was rolled back even before it could have an effect, thanks to a relentless scaremongering campaign by the police, prosecutors and some lawmakers who exploited a few high-profile crimes"
From the
@nytimes
editorial board
"Our cup has basically runneth over, we have no more room,"
@NYCMayor
says at asylum seeker briefing now.
He's expected to announce proposals limit some shelters stays to 60-day max for some in shelters, per reporting from
@lizkimtweets
.
THANK YOU,
@maddow
for featuring the
@QueensEagle
(Queens’ only daily English-language print paper) on your show tonight.
And thank you to all the readers who have recognized the power, cleverness and individuality of local news!
New for
@CityLimitsNews
NYC has purchased 14 cluster sites in the Bronx for conversion to permanent housing for 554 homeless families (+ 223 other units). The bldgs belonged to LLCs linked to notoriously bad landlords
The cost is $122M or ~ $157K/unit
The two officers who booked subway shooter Frank R James following his arrest also appeared to participate in the homeless encampment sweep in the East Village earlier in the day
Photo from
@SafetyNetUJC
, whose members have been monitoring sweeps
WOW from
@MidHudsonNews
:
"7 homeless men have come forward to say they were part of a group recruited at a Poughkeepsie homeless shelter to act as veterans that had been displaced from a Newburgh hotel in order for a non-profit organization to perpetrate a fraud on the public"
Video of 2 officers dragging & cuffing a man at the 8th Ave L train station just before 1 am Monday underscores concerns about
@NYCMayor
's new plan to send more cops into the subways, advocates say
🎥 by
@shift_in2_turbo
Story at
@CityLimitsNews
🚨 Some personal news! 🚨
We are thrilled to announce that
@essayolumhense
,
@DavidFBrand
and
@lizdonov
will be joining our editorial team covering government, housing and climate change.
A beloved Xmas-themed bar crawl that says it's raised $1.4M for charity actually spent most of the money on a itself — plus a mix of cryptocurrency, Burning Man stuff and a documentary on pelvic exams
@ryankailath
on the Santa con
Evictions have increased every month this year in NYC following the expiration of a state ban on most removals
New eviction filings are also mounting as rents skyrocket
For
@CityLimitsNews
Today is the SECOND ANNIVERSARY of the
@QueensEagle
, the borough's only daily print paper. Unreal.
We have achieved quite a bit since our first issue on June 25, 2018
The MTA has a porn problem.
The official website titles for at least 16 Metro-North stations contain an XXX-rated message in the Google search results.
Look up "Cold Spring Metro-North station" to see what I mean. Or check out my
@queenseagle
story
8 mon 16 days into
@QueensDAKatz
's tenure, I finally get a response from the press office — by accident.
I FOILed info, the FOIL officer forwarded to press office, the press office responded to me:
"Not surprising since he reached out to us about this and we did not respond."
"Voters aren’t stupid"
Business-backed SuperPACs spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat
@NYSenatorRivera
and
@Gonzalez4NY
in contentious primaries yesterday. They failed.
Story for
@CityLimitsNews
Alvin Bragg is working to, rhetorically, downplay this once-in-a-lifetime case. He doesn’t say “Trump,” just “the defendant” and emphasizes, as he has before, “This type of white collar prosecution is core to what we do at the Manhattan District Attorney's office.”
Hundreds of tenants and advocates are marching along Fifth Avenue, turning onto 40th Street and heading to
@GovKathyHochul
’s Manhattan office to demand additional protections against eviction
New York’s broad eviction freeze ends tomorrow
Today, June 25, 2019, is the ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the
@QueensEagle
— a daily PRINT newspaper that publishes ever single weekday.
I'm so proud of what our team has built. We didn't exist and then, in a year, we developed a vital source of news and commentary for NYC. A thread:
Asked why the NYPD can't rein in overtime spending, Dermot Shea just told
@Dromm25
that "if my officers spoke to the public this way I would fire them. It's completely disrespectful."
Some people may disagree - but transporting ziplock bags of marijuana & a digital scale in your backpack does not make you an essential traveler in the eyes of the Transit police. Hopping a turnstile while doing so didn’t help either. Nice grab by our District 1 team!
A Queens judge just ordered
@disruptionary
&
@maryforassembly
back on the ballot after the BOE kicked them off based on issue of professional vs legal names
"I was never going to let the BOE get away with this. Not with my community,” said
@Ali_Najmi
Today we launched a new project for
@Gothamist
-
@WNYC
tracking + mapping evictions across New York City since the start of 2022
@neilmhta
visualized the data &
@J__Velasquez
made it happen
See where evictions are happening in NYC thru our ongoing tracker
“Today, the center is known in the community as an inclusive and accepting space hosting a number of diverse community events throughout the year."
@AOC
marked the 100th Anniversary of the Jewish Center of Jackson Heights in a speech on the House floor
The
@QueensEagle
is the borough's only English-language DAILY print newspaper
Our website surpassed ONE MILLION views in the first 99 days of 2020
We're a 3-person editorial team & we're less than 2 years old
Please consider supporting vital local news
Judge Lumarie Maldonado Cruz, who said she was inspired by AOC & got a lot of attention for beating the Queens Dems’ pick for the bench in 2019, is setting bail/remanding defendants more than anyone else in NYC
Good story by
@georgejoseph94
@akashvmehta
Revel shutting down service under pressure from the city reminds me of the vaping ban
The new unsafe thing (mopeds, vaping) is prohibited, while the old unsafe thing (cars, cigarettes) are cool