Housing insecurity continues to be an obstacle for many low income communities of color throughout New York City. The Covid-19 pandemic only highlighted and exacerbated the issue when landlords filed evictions 3.6 times faster in ZIP codes with the highest COVID death rates, areas where around 68% of residents are people of color. And despite the New York eviction pause, over 222,000 eviction cases have been filed statewide as of April 2021.  

East New York and Brownsville were severely impacted by the 2007-2010 mortgage crisis and the 2016 East New York rezoning, which set off a wave of speculative purchasing of land and houses. In 2017, Community Districts 5 and 16 (which cover the East New York and Brownsville neighborhoods) had the 3rd and 4th highest new foreclosure rates in New York City out of 59 community districts. In East New York, 35% of 1-4 family homes sales went to investors in 2017. Moreover, East New York and Brownsville residents have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

ENY residents refuse to stand by as private financial actors look to take advantage of the real estate downcycle and residents’ increased economic vulnerability. It is our turn to take development into our own hands, transform our neighborhoods, and build communities centered on people and not profits! 

In March 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, East New York and Brownsville residents mobilized quickly to form a steering committee to bring their vision of housing security and community directed development to fruition by starting  a community land trust (CLT). A CLT is a community led non-profit organization created for the purpose of collective stewardship of land. We knew that the time was NOW to create a CLT because of the lessons learned from the last two economic crises.

If you want to learn more about the CLT model, check out this video.