New York Considers a Social Housing Bill

Feb 23, 2024

New York鈥檚 state assembly is considering a new proposing the creation of a Social Housing Development Authority to ease the state鈥檚 housing crisis. The idea of 鈥渟ocial housing鈥� is not new, but it is an elegant solution, one that offers a more direct alternative to the standard practice of subsidizing private developers in the hope that they will create affordable housing.聽

California has introduced its own version of the bill called the , and across the country are pushing their own cities to adopt such an idea.聽

Genevieve Rand, Statewide Housing Organizer for and member of the steering committee in New York spoke with 大象传媒 Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on 大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about the New York social housing bill.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.