March 2nd

, 2016

Dear Council Member,

As labor leaders representing over half a million working New Yorkers, we support Mayor de

Blasio’s Housing New York Plan – and its two critically important zoning amendments,

Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) and Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA) –

because it will help create vitally needed affordable housing for our members and other working

New Yorkers.

Like many other New Yorkers, members of 1199 SEIU, SEIU 32BJ, CWA District 1, DC 37,

HTC, and RWDSU are increasingly forced to live far outside of the city we work in or pay rents

we can’t afford. And we often have to make choices we shouldn’t have to make -- between

feeding our families, buying medicine, or paying the rents. It also means increasingly long and

expensive commutes, and increased difficulty getting to our jobs to serve New Yorkers in

weather or other emergencies.

The Mayor’s plan creates and preserves affordable housing that we desperately need. Housing

New York promises to preserve 200,000 affordable homes over a 10-year stretch.

In just two years, the City has produced more than 40,000 of those homes — enough to put roofs

over the heads of 100,000 New Yorkers. We appreciate the City Council’s leadership in this

effort. It is a great first step, and now we need to keep going with Mayor de Blasio’s plan to

build and preserve much needed affordable housing.

Of the 200,000 homes the mayor’s plan is financing:

- 58% will be affordable to individuals earning up to $48,000. That includes many of our

members, including school maintenance workers, building service workers, grocery workers,

some retail workers, some social workers, traffic enforcement agents, and certified nursing

assistants.

- 12% will be affordable to individuals who earn up to $30,000 a year, including some of

our members like paraprofessionals, security guards, home healthcare aides, and park

workers.

- 11% will be affordable to those earning up to $73,000 a year, such as hotel

housekeepers, telephone company service reps and union retail workers.

- 11% will be affordable to individuals who earn up to $99,000 annually, including nurses,

telephone company technicians, and physician assistants.

This housing plan also provides housing for extremely low-income households, individuals

earning up to $18,000 per year. This includes some of our members who are only able to work

part time, as well as our relatives and neighbors who need homes.

Our members will be among the hundreds of thousands of working New Yorkers who will

directly benefit from this desperately needed housing plan. We urge the City Council to vote

YES on MIH and ZQA so that those who work so hard to make New York the greatest city in the

world can live and thrive here too.

Stuart Appelbaum, President, RWDSU George Gresham, President, 1199 SEIU

Hector Figueroa, President, 32BJ SEIU Dennis Trainor, Vice President, CWA

District 1

Henry Garrido, Executive Director, DC 37 Peter Ward, President, New York Hotel and

Motel Trades Council