Skip ahead to content

Home Publications

Reports

Public Housing in New York City: Building Communities of Opportunity

Report last updated October 27, 2009

As New York City works to promote economic opportunity for the poor, a new report by the Pratt Center for Community Development, "Public Housing in New York City: Building Communities of Opportunity," provides an in-depth look at the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and the nearly 500,000 New Yorkers who live in its 286 developments. Funded by the Brooklyn Community Foundation, a charitable organization devoted exclusively to support Brooklyn’s nonprofit community, the report outlines strategies that would help create and increase opportunities for public housing residents, nearly half of whom live in poverty.

Read more

Community Voices and the Future of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area

Report posted September 15, 2009

Community Voices and the Future of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area Report

SPURA Matters is a yearlong initiative facilitated by nonprofit community organizations that wished to renew a community conversation about the redevelopment of the long-vacant Seward Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA) site on the Lower East Side. Over several months in late 2008 and early 2009, the initiative consulted with local stakeholders to engage them in a dialogue about community needs and potential uses for the site. After decades of controversial development proposals that never went anywhere, SPURA Matters strove to get stakeholders talking about how the site could be developed in a way that benefits the surrounding community. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to help start a community-driven process to put the site back into a broadly productive use.

Read more

One City/One Future: A Blueprint for Growth That Works for All New Yorkers

Report posted April 16, 2009

This Blueprint for Economic Development is the product of four years of collaboration by civic leaders, neighborhood advocates, community development organizations, labor unions, local development corporations, environmentalists, and others to make economic development work for New Yorkers -- to improve economic opportunity, environmental sustainability, and the quality of life in our city.

Read more

Confronting the Housing Squeeze: Challenges Facing Immigrant Tenants, and What New York Can Do

Report last updated October 16, 2008

This report examines housing conditions experienced by New York City's immigrant tenants, and offers policy recommendations for improving access to affordable housing and responding to systemic discrimination against immigrants seeking to obtain housing or address poor housing conditions. Its findings draw in part from a survey of immigrant tenants in neighborhoods around New York City.

Read more

Downtown Brooklyn's Detour: The Unanticipated Impacts of Rezoning and Development on Residents and Businesses

Report last updated July 16, 2008

This report highlights the differences between the foreseen impacts declared by the city during its review of the Downtown Brooklyn Plan and the impacts now being felt by many people who have been living and doing business in Downtown Brooklyn. It compares the impacts of the rezoning as they were outlined in the plan's Final Environmental Impact Statement with how the area is now being developed.

Read more

New York's Housing Underground: A Refuge and Resource

Report last updated March 16, 2008

Between 1990 and 2000, New York City gained 114,000 apartments that are not reflected in the official number of certificates of occupancy the City granted for new construction or renovation. Many more have almost certainly been created since. These phantom apartments are the city's housing underground: units that have been created in spaces that are not approved for living.

Read more

421-a: Still Subsidizing Luxury Development

Report last updated December 8, 2006

This report highlights 54 condo buildings - built in the last few years or currently under construction - that would still be eligible for 421-a tax relief, even if they would have been built after the reforms proposed by the Speaker and the Mayor. These buildings contain more than 6,100 high-priced condominiums, far beyond the reach of average New Yorkers.

Even with the proposed reforms, New York City will be providing substantial tax subsidies to luxury developers and building owners who do no provide affordable housing, and who pay substandard wages.

Read more

Building in Good Jobs

Report last updated December 7, 2006

In cities around the country, private sector development and public sector support have combined to create building booms in places that only a few decades ago were in seemingly irreversible decline. However, both working poverty and chronic unemployment in central cities remain disturbingly high.

Workforce "linkage" policies present an opportunity to help people make a lasting exit from poverty by tying economic development projects directly to the creation of quality jobs and training opportunities for people struggling to get ahead.

Read more

Time for a Gut Rehab: How the Governor Can Rebuild New York's Affordable Housing Legacy

Report last updated June 5, 2006

Eighty years ago, New York State was a national pioneer in creating affordable housing -- an effort led by its governor. In 1926, Governor Al Smith signed the Housing Act, which sparked a wave of low-cost development. New York was one of just two states to help produce housing before the New Deal. Republican and Democratic governors -- Harriman, Carey, Rockefeller, Cuomo -- continued and expanded this legacy.

Read more

New Markets Tax Credit: Issues and Opportunities

Report last updated December 9, 2004

The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) is the largest new federal subsidy for economic development in depressed areas created in the past thirty years. This report explores how NMTC works and provides some insight into the program, early in its implementation. It includes case studies of ten NMTC deals from around the country, highlighting projects where federal subsidies are making a real difference in low-income areas.

Read more