help Habitat for Humanity count abandoned buildings in NYC
In July, along with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, our Housing Campaign embarked on a major undertaking—a block-by-block survey of vacant properties in Manhattan. We covered half the borough, and got major news coverage in outlets ranging from the New York Times to the Daily News to El Diario/La Prensa to the Amsterdam News, and now it's time to count the rest!
Please join us on Saturday, October 14, 2006 as we canvas Lower Manhattan, Midtown, the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side (Community Board Districts 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8). Prior to beginning the count, volunteers will be asked to attend a morning training session and breakfast beginning at 9:30 am at 1 Centre Street, 19th Floor South. During the training, volunteers will be assigned areas to survey and a survey team, and will be provided with packets of walking maps, survey instructions, and the survey tool. Volunteers will reconvene at 1 Centre Street at 3 pm to return completed materials.
If you would like to volunteer, please visit http://www.mbpo.org/policy/housing and fully complete the Volunteer Registration Form and return it to the listed address or fax number. If you have any questions about the Abandoned Building and Vacant Lot Survey, please call Ryan Galvin, Housing Policy Analyst for the Borough President's office at 212-669-3060, or Picture the Homeless at 646-314-6423.
We look forward to working with you to identify under-utilized properties so we can better understand the problem, and what needs to change. In other cities, a count of abandoned buildings was an important first step to creating real social change with regards to the root causes of property warehousing and the housing crisis. In Boston, for example, the total number of abandoned buildings has decreased by 67% since the survey began in 1997—from 1,044 to 350 buildings. While some of that decline is due to an overall upswing in the real estate market, city officials have stated that quantifying and publicizing the extent of the problem led to the creation of the public will necessary for the city administration to implement new policies and funding streams for the conversion of these economic sinkholes into functioning residential buildings.
Please join us on Saturday, October 14, 2006 as we canvas Lower Manhattan, Midtown, the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side (Community Board Districts 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8). Prior to beginning the count, volunteers will be asked to attend a morning training session and breakfast beginning at 9:30 am at 1 Centre Street, 19th Floor South. During the training, volunteers will be assigned areas to survey and a survey team, and will be provided with packets of walking maps, survey instructions, and the survey tool. Volunteers will reconvene at 1 Centre Street at 3 pm to return completed materials.
If you would like to volunteer, please visit http://www.mbpo.org/policy/housing and fully complete the Volunteer Registration Form and return it to the listed address or fax number. If you have any questions about the Abandoned Building and Vacant Lot Survey, please call Ryan Galvin, Housing Policy Analyst for the Borough President's office at 212-669-3060, or Picture the Homeless at 646-314-6423.
We look forward to working with you to identify under-utilized properties so we can better understand the problem, and what needs to change. In other cities, a count of abandoned buildings was an important first step to creating real social change with regards to the root causes of property warehousing and the housing crisis. In Boston, for example, the total number of abandoned buildings has decreased by 67% since the survey began in 1997—from 1,044 to 350 buildings. While some of that decline is due to an overall upswing in the real estate market, city officials have stated that quantifying and publicizing the extent of the problem led to the creation of the public will necessary for the city administration to implement new policies and funding streams for the conversion of these economic sinkholes into functioning residential buildings.
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