Housing Networks

The housing expertise in New York City represents an extraordinary depth of staff, from its network of neighborhood organizations to the extensive analytical prowess of national offices. So why are they failing?

Brooklyn’s nonprofit community development corporations and others have decades of experience in preserving and developing housing throughout the city. However, this resource faces a variety of new challenges in the prevention of displacement. To succeed,  they will need a far more sophisticated network for sharing housing innovations and achieving political change.  Not doing is why they face catastrophic failure. Just one example: The Trump Administration proposed an $8.8 billion cut in funds serving a low-and moderate-income community (an 18.3% reduction)in FY 2019 Budget. Will opposition to this proposal succeed? No, not until the 2020 loss.

The primary asset forged from the grassroots up coupled with the ability to serve short-term needs while producing long-term solutions. Regardless of the “feeding-hand” problem that publicly funded organizations confront, the congressional delegation of New York City will still be the first in the nation to fully understand the subtle waves of displacement aimed at the vulnerable but working members of their community. The question becomes will they lose their self-respect if they do not resist these forces with every talent they possess? The maps that follow attempt to visualize a Brooklyn Housing and Community Development Summit membership that will ask and answer just one question.  What information do community-based organizations need to share in building a more comprehensive and progressive community development strategy?

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1UpQ-eDoe8ofrGig8c5jV9IqvTIdXxy3G&w=740&h=580]

On the map below, CAMBA illustrates the ability to see people in real places before data.  The services represented by this map also visualize the importance of a comprehensive approach to community development in the context of the Ninth Congressional District and its immediate surroundings. Have a look, and for more detail, click (here).  This process is replicable for all geo-filters from Census Tracts to city and state political districts.

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1eBVSoRR5YN5IWijr7jc-S0oSwFI&hl=en&w=640&h=480]