Council Member Rivera, one of the co-authors, at a CLT rally (photo: John McCarten/NYC Council)

In the midst of a persistent housing crisis, there are tens of thousands of rent-stabilized apartment units sitting vacant across New York City, as speculators and unscrupulous landlords contribute to scarcity and a lack of affordability. 

In March 2021, The Real Deal reported that landlords had removed over 1,800 apartment listings in Manhattan alone, a number three times higher than in February 2020, and that they were

Council Member Rivera at a CLT rally (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York faces two new fronts in its housing crisis -- a wave of heightened speculation likely to destabilize communities and an onslaught of expected evictions as housing courts reopen.

As Mayor de Blasio and the City Council approach the June 30 deadline for voting on the fiscal year 2021 budget, communities of color hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic are not seeing anywhere near the requisite level of support to combat these

Council Member Rivera (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

Manhattan City Council Member Carlina Rivera is part of a growing coalition of Council members pushing for city government's first major commitment to a seldom-utilized affordable housing model. In the face of rapid gentrification, they say, the city should invest $850,000 in Community Land Trusts, or CLTs, in the city budget currently being negotiated.

Doing so could help advocates and nonprofits acquire land to operate deeply affordable housing and