Mayoral forum on housing has commenced. Follow along for live thread.

First Q from @TweetBenMax to @cmenchaca is how would you deal with @NYCHA and specifically your position on Rental Assistance Demonstration.
Carlos: "Just fix it. ... The city capital can balloon into big proportions" for things like NYCHA. Says he'd spend billions.

. @cmenchaca says RAD-an Obama-era program to convert public housing to private mngt-is "terrible" & "NYCHA residents don't support it."

@QnsBPRichards would probably disagree - many his residents in Ocean Bay have spoken positively about it having been the recipient of the work.

. @cmenchaca says RAD "continues to push conversations around prioritization of our public housing."

. @ericadamsfornyc offers a completely different answer, housing nerds. He wants to sell air rights - something @NYCMayor suggested in a 2018 plan that has hardly gotten underway. He also speaks more welcomingly of RAD (private management of public housing.)

. @ericadamsfornyc "I believe when you look at a combination of ... selling the air rights w/ local community-based orgs ... if you educate the tenants on exactly what RAD is ... no one has given them the time of speaking w/ them and I know how they feel about these issues."

. @cmenchaca & @Dianne4NYC provided answers that are more in line w/ the publicly-stated concerns about @NYCHA from housing activists and some tenants; @ericadamsfornyc teased out a more concrete and realistic idea to make the necessary repairs.

Jocelyn Taylor says, among other things, city's capital budget should not focus on "things that are nice to have" before taking care of needs of @NYCHA tenants. Isn't a fan of RAD, she says. "I don't think RAD is the way to go."

. @KGforNYC who served as @NYCHA chair for a few months. "NYCHA doesn't need a new plan; NYCHA needs us to start executing on the plans we have. We know that housing equals healing and that health and housing are linked. Being inside NYCHA was somewhat horrifying."

. @KGforNYC, like @ericadamsfornyc, is supportive of RAD. Says tenants she spoke to during her time there were very supportive of RAD - federal program to provide subsidy for private management of public housing.

If you're reading this thread on a Saturday afternoon you already know this, but this forum is another example of why we need @TweetBenMax, whose grasp of politics and policy issues is essential during this mayor's race. Pls support @GothamGazette.

. @KGforNYC "I would like to bring NYCHA more into the families of agencies."

For some context on that comment: https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2018/12/19/alicia-glen-who-oversaw-de-blasios-affordable-housing-plan-and-embattled-nycha-to-depart-city-hall-760480

. @mayawiley "We must as everyone said in different ways - we must preserve NYCHA, but I say we must preserve it as public." Raises concerns RAD.

As an aside, it is kind of amazing that not one mayoral candidate (so far) has raised the fact that @NYCHA is under the auspices of a federal monitor.

. @mayawiley “I think this is part of what we have to do with residents. … The principals have to be about keeping public housing public and that’s one of the concerns around RAD."

Here's a @politicony story on a @NYCMayor plan that politics scuttled to do RAD at Fulton Houses, which had the support of the tenant president. https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2019/09/11/political-fight-threatens-de-blasios-plans-to-remake-public-housing-complex-in-manhattan-1185275

. @scottmstringer says @NYCHA used to be "aspirational housing" and expressed concerns about RAD; says Battery Park City Authority funds should go toward public housing repairs.

. @ShaunDonovanNYC touts his resume at HUD under Obama and HPD under Bloomberg and says “There is deep misunderstanding about RAD. … We need a reset on RAD.” Doesn't really say what that reset would entail. @NYCMayor has used RAD extensively and it's highly controversial.

Asked about infill (private development on underused @NYCHA land): @KGforNYC @ericadamsfornyc @ShaunDonovanNYC support it; @Dianne4NYC @cmenchaca & Joycelyn Taylor do not. @scottmstringer says it should go through public land use review process, which currently it would not.

. @Dianne4NYC, who held a top job at Phipps Neighborhoods, says housing should be shifted "toward a model of social housing that treats housing as a human right." (Q was about privately owned stock-foreclosures, delayed repairs, ownership consolidation)

Third Q from @TweetBenMax focuses on homelessness, an issue that was not resolved under @NYCMayor and one he has previously said is among his biggest regrets.

. @Dianne4NYC says tenant protections and code enforcements must be strengthened for housing & says system is "fundamentally flawed" bec it's focused on moving ppl out of shelter w/out sufficient support to attain/maintain stable housing long term.

To that end, remember that the supportive housing model between state and city was effectively ended when Cuomo and de Blasio couldn't work together on it. Each did their own plan but many housing experts felt it worked better under joint partnership.

. @ericadamsfornyc blames spike in homelessness on end of Advantage program, which took place when @MikeBloomberg was mayor.

. @scottmstringer says @NYCMayor's housing program doesn't build housing that is affordable enough to the ppl who need it most, and benefitted private developers with lucrative rezonings.

. @scottmstringer says 25% of units in as-of-right housing (which can be built w/out government input) be set aside for ppl who are homeless. Not sure if that would be litigated as a "taking" but would certainly put a huge dent in homelessness w/ permanent housing.

. @cmenchaca says advocates have told him/Council hearings have shown that city spends $90K a year per homeless person in shelter - money he says could be put back into economy. Touted "universal basic income," which was a presidential platform of @AndrewYang as well.

"We've got to get out of the idea that shelter is the solution when permanent housing is what ppl need," @cmenchaca said.

. @mayawiley says as mayor she would happily go to court w/ anyone who sues over homeless shelters in their neighborhoods. @NYCMayor has reacted to pressure from neighborhoods re: Lucerne.

. @scottmstringer says city must work more w/ nonprofit developers and criticized @NYCMayor on Lucerne, which, as an issue on UWS where Scott is banking on substantial support, is notable that he is taking a firm side on.

. @cmenchaca said he would put moratorium on all rezonings until racial impact studies are complete.

. @Dianne4NYC says that in order to address immediate housing crisis, there does not need to be more subsidies but rather complete reimagining; would use eminent domain to repurpose certain commercial properties and disincentivize owning vacant land.

. @ericadamsfornyc "it is embarrassing that we had almost 70K children" who didn't have iPads/Wifi when remote learning started. "Any time we don't educate, we incarcerate" and promised immediate technology.

. @TweetBenMax - I take away all my nice things because he just said this forum should be 7 hours. :)

. @ShaunDonovanNYC also says there needs to be changes to rent laws in Albany - something that took place after Dems took over state Senate in 2018 but that many ppl running for mayor agree needs to be done to greater effect.

Joycelyn Taylor called for vacancy tax to disincentivize landlords from holding onto vacant property. Such a tax would have to be approved by the state legislature.

"They become vacant because someone is evicted and those folks need to be protected from evictions," @KGforNYC says.