For environmental justice communities like many of the neighborhoods of Northern Manhattan, it’s critical to keep up the momentum beyond the presidential election. The importance of voting was underscored this November, when the fate of our environment and vulnerable communities was decided by close margins—with the highest voter turnout rate in 120 years.
In 2021, WE ACT must register thousands of NYCHA residents and turn them out at the polls in NYC’s June primary and November general election. In the 2021 City elections, the mayor, comptroller, four out of five borough presidents, and two-thirds of the city council will all be ineligible for reelection due to term limits. This presents an invaluable opportunity for WE ACT and members of our community living in NYCHA to send a powerful message—that NYCHA issues must be addressed by a new class of incoming city officials.
Together, we must demand the funding of NYCHA repairs and improvements and ensure the future of our city’s affordable housing.
One-fifth of WE ACT’s members live in NYHCA, and the issues they face affect more than 60,000 people in Northern Manhattan. In East Harlem alone, 33% of housing is NYCHA-owned. Years of neglect and disinvestment in NYCHA developments deeply impact the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. Mold, pests, broken elevators and apartments in disrepair, and lack of protection from climate-related threats like extreme heat, all pose daily threats to families living in NYCHA.
People living in public housing can’t afford another four years of inaction.
