Res. No. 808 Titlle Resolution that the Council of the City of New York believes that it is inappropriate to approve any auctions, sales or other dispositions by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services of vacant residentially-zoned land pursuant to Section 197-c of the New York City Charter unless they are components of a comprehensive affordable housing program for the City that will lead to the construction of new units for households earning less than New York City's median income of $38,870 or will be used as an active community garden; and calling upon the City to dedicate any vacant land, not auctioned or disposed of by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services or used as an active community garden, to be used for housing units affordable for working families making less than the New York City median income of $38,870 in proportion to the number of such households in the City; and to undertake a prompt and complete review of auctioned land that remains vacant, and to exercise its rights under auction sale agreements and its condemnation powers for urban redevelopment purposes to acquire blighted vacant residential land to be used for the development of affordable housing. Body By Council Members Sanders, Monserrate, Foster, Rivera, Clarke, Brewer, Liu, Vann, Reyna, Lopez, Serrano, Barron, Quinn, Yassky, Comrie, Gerson, Gioia, Jackson, Koppell, Martinez, Seabrook, Stewart and Weprin Whereas, There is an affordable housing crisis in New York City, especially for working families that earn less than the New York City median income of $38,870; and Whereas, The City's policy has been to auction a substantial portion of its vacant land without requiring purchasers to develop the land in prescribed ways within an established time period; and Whereas, Many of these vacant parcels of City-owned land are clustered in low-income neighborhoods; and Whereas, In February 2003, New York ACORN issued a report entitled, "Neighborhoods For Sale: An Assessment of New York City's Subsidized Housing & Vacant Land Use Policies in Low-Income Neighborhoods," which shows that a majority of these auctioned properties remain vacant many years after public auction; and Whereas, A substantial portion of these parcels remain in blighted, unsafe and unsanitary condition for many years after auction; and Whereas, Many city-owned vacant parcels are used as community gardens, which are a positive addition to community life and serve to ameliorate blight on otherwise unproductive vacant land; Whereas, The auction of vacant residential land, without imposing on the purchaser an obligation to construct affordable housing, squanders one of the City's most valuable resources and fails to relieve serious blight, especially in low- and moderate income communities; and Whereas, The forecasted revenues from further auctions of vacant residential land are far outweighed by the neighborhood blight imposed by these vacant properties, including the public auction's incompatibility with the City's goal of building thousands of new affordable housing units; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York believes that it is inappropriate to approve any auctions, sales or other dispositions by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services of vacant residentially-zoned land pursuant to Section 197-c of the New York City Charter unless they are components of a comprehensive affordable housing program for the City that will lead to the construction of new units for households earning less than New York City's median income of $38,870 or will be used as an active community garden; and Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the City to dedicate any vacant land, not auctioned or disposed of by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services or used as an active community garden, to be used for housing units affordable for working families making less than the New York City median income of $38,870 in proportion to the number of such households in the City; and, be it further Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the City to undertake a prompt and complete review of auctioned land that remains vacant, and to exercise its rights under auction sale agreements and its condemnation powers for urban redevelopment purposes to acquire blighted vacant residential land to be used for the development of affordable housing. AIS LS #2160 4/4/03