New survey shows one in four small businesses may close this year

During the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City’s commercial corridors have undergone significant shifts, with countless small businesses permanently shuttered and vacancies on the rise. Using the latest annual release of storefront registry data, we assess the state of storefronts as of December 2020, months after the pandemic first forced shutdowns in New York City.

You can’t discuss affordable housing policy in New York City without mentioning Area Median Income (AMI). The acronym is everywhere, from approving a development to renting a unit through the Housing Lottery. But what might seem like a straightforward measure is much more complex. In ANHD’s new AMI Cheat Sheet and analysis, we find that AMI is a convoluted and increasingly disconnected metric that contributes to equally disconnected – and inequitable – housing policies.

Almost two years into the pandemic, New York State renters and small and nonprofit landlords remain in dire crisis. ANHD’s new analysis of Census and housing court data reveals the extent of the severe rent debt and eviction crises and disproportionate impacts on people of color, which require both immediate and long-term solutions.

The New York City Inclusive Growth Initiative is composed of a 19-person steering committee representative of the diversity of New York City, convened and facilitated by ANHD, the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC), and the Regional Plan Association (RPA). This Steering Committee developed an inclusive growth blueprint with recommendations for the future of economic development, workforce development, and affordable housing in New York City.

Across several decades and multiple administrations, rezonings have been promoted as an important affordable housing tool. While that can be the case, they can do more harm than good if not used correctly. ANHD looks back at what housing has actually been created citywide and through different types of rezonings, and found neighborhood rezonings in low-income, BIPOC neighborhoods are more likely to produce a lower ratio of affordable housing than what occurs there today without a rezoning.

Leading community organizations from across New York City released a new report, “Right to a Roof: Demands for an Integrated Housing Plan to End Homelessness and Promote Racial Equity,” which concludes that the city’s next mayor must develop and implement an integrated housing plan to end homelessness and promote racial equity.

The Coalition Against Tenant Harassment (CATHnyc) has released a new report - Tenant Harassment Should Not Pay: An Evaluation of the Certificate of No Harassment Pilot Program - that provides a comprehensive review of the Certificate of No Harassment (CONH) Pilot Program’s impacts and shortcomings. The results indicate clearly that CONH has the potential to be an effective tool in stopping tenant harassment – to achieve its intended impact, it will need to be both expanded and adjusted.

ANHD produces an annual analysis of local bank reinvestment activity to help communities, legislators, and regulators understand the impact of the Community Reinvestment Act, a key civil rights era law that requires banks to direct money and investments to low-income communities.