Last week, I saw a tweet from a Brooklyn City Council member documenting his trouble finding an apartment to rent in his district. He looked at 20 places, applied for five and got zero. He said that aging out of his parents’ house shouldn’t mean aging out of his community. This young man happens to come from Bed-Stuy but in a couple of simple but power tweets, he summed up the challenges facing every community in our city as the housing and affordability crisis squeezes us all more every day.
So far, our State legislators aren’t exactly answering the call. I understand this isn’t a simple issue and the solutions mean things could change in parts of the City but the price of doing nothing will force more young people and families to flee the City in hopes of finding an affordable place to live. We need Albany to act in this budget — due on April 1 — and they must be decisive in their steps.
