Jessica Katz, former associate commissioner at the city’s Housing Department, who now runs the nonprofit Citizens Housing and Planning Council, also felt that the hotel amendment would put a damper on tourism in the wake of the pandemic.

“How can New York City continue to be one of the greatest tourist destinations in the world if we outlaw as-of-right hotels, even in the neighborhoods designed specifically for them?” she asked during her testimony at the public meeting. “Instead of imposing new restrictions, just when we need new economic stimulus the most, we should be analyzing the code for places where we can remove restrictions to jumpstart our economy.”

More CHPC in the media

Does NYC need more small or large affordable apartments?

“It’s a continually vexing issue: Which of these things do we need more of? Like so many things in housing, we end up answering like it’s an either-or question, but there’s such a need for both,” said Citizens Housing and Planning Council Executive Director Howard Slatkin.
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New York Can House More New Yorkers, Better

“What we need is not haphazard compromise through gritted teeth," writes Howard Slatkin, "but the embrace of a coherent policy to safely and affordably house more New Yorkers. We need to build more housing and help more people afford it.”
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Community preference settlement to shift dynamics in NYC affordable housing lotteries

Howard Slatkin called community preference "a tool that was used to allay concerns about gentrification as the city rebuilt neighborhoods."
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