We must invest in New York

New York City has always been one of the world’s greatest places to live.  And it has a proud tradition of making sure people from all backgrounds could afford to live here.  Every modern mayor has worked to make quality, affordable housing available to all New Yorkers, no matter their income.  As Fiorello La Guardia said, New Yorkers deserve “a bit of sunshine in every window.”

But these days, the outlook is not so sunny.  Too many New Yorkers feel trapped in hollowed-out neighborhoods.  They’re struggling to pay rising rents.  They’re forced out of communities where they’ve lived for years, and pushed farther away from jobs, good schools, good transit options – in short, opportunity.

This is a problem in cities across the country.  A quarter of renters in America spend more than half their income on housing.  And Latino households are more than twice as likely as white households to face such severe housing cost burdens.

But it’s worse in New York and cities like it.  Over the last two decades, New York rents have risen almost 40 percent.  In places like Harlem and Park Slope, longtime residents are being priced out by landlords and developers seeking to fill historic neighborhoods with new luxury properties.  Young people starting out here are forced to cram three or four people into apartments built for two.

At the same time, New York is facing a public housing crisis.  Funding for the New York City Housing Authority, or NYCHA, has declined by nearly 30 percent over the last 15 years despite facing billions in needed capital repairs.  Residents have been forced to contend with moldy walls, leaking roofs, and elevators that have ground to a halt.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.  Public housing can and should be a springboard to opportunity – a chance for struggling families to get back on their feet, spend their money on other essentials, and give their kids a safe and healthy home and community.  Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor grew up in NYCHA’s Bronxdale Houses on Bruckner Boulevard; now they’ve been renamed in her honor.  But for public housing to meet its promise, it needs more support.

I’ve been focused on affordable housing for years.  As New York’s Senator, I co-sponsored the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act, which later passed and established a dedicated stream of funding for 1.5 million new affordable homes.  I introduced the Federal Housing Fairness Act, which would have ensured that working families in high-cost markets could access FHA loans to purchase a home.

The Plan

As President, I’ll build on this record.  My plan will invest $125 billion in revitalizing communities that have been left out or left behind by our recovery—not only here in the five boroughs, but also in upstate cities like Buffalo, Rochester, and Troy.

First, we’ll make housing more affordable for working Americans.

Let’s provide additional incentives for affordable housing development by expanding the supply of Low Income Housing Tax Credits, to help check skyrocketing rental costs.  Let’s encourage local land use and zoning strategies that make it easier to build affordable rental housing near good jobs.  Let’s increase rental assistance for low-income families, and help families who receive support choose from a wider range of neighborhoods with more jobs and better schools.  For working families looking to buy their first home, my proposal would support up to $10,000 in down payment assistance.  And I’ll enforce fair housing laws and fight housing discrimination.

Plus, we’ll provide more resources to public housing authorities like NYCHA, and pair these investments with broader economic development efforts.  We’ve got to help low-income residents break free from cycles of poverty, and that’ll take more than better public housing – that’ll take better job and educational opportunities too.

Second, we need to invest more in transportation.  It’s hard to get ahead when you can’t get around.

My plan will link more communities to more good jobs by improving our transit infrastructure.  In the Senate, I negotiated and secured over $16 billion in transportation funding for New York, and that was just a start.  A future Clinton Administration would commit $275 billion to infrastructure, $50 billion of which would seed a transportation equity fund to connect areas with high unemployment to areas with more jobs.

Third, we need to create more jobs and support job training programs in the communities that need them most.

All these investments in housing and transportation will only amount to so much if we don’t also connect people to good-paying jobs.  Let’s tackle youth unemployment, and invest billions in local programs that will put our kids to work.  Let’s promote entrepreneurship in underserved communities; small businesses are a powerful engine of job growth in this country, and we should help that engine roar in every zip code.

New York’s skyline is full of majestic skyscrapers, named for titans of our history: Chrysler, Woolworth, Rockefeller.  But those aren’t the names that make New York great.  It’s the names in smaller print over mom-and-pop storefronts… on plaques affixed to park benches… and on statues of local leaders who spent their lives making our communities strong.  These hardworking heroes shaped the character of their neighborhoods – because they could afford to live there.

It’s up to us to make sure New Yorkers can enjoy the same opportunities previous generations did.  We know what needs to be done.  And as President, I’ll make sure these solutions finally hit home.

Hillary Clinton is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.