PUBLIC STATEMENT

No More Crumbs! Save Our Homes In Public Housing!

Rally on the Steps of City Hall

DATE: Thursday April 28th 2011

The City-wide Council of Presidents of New York City is here today to mobilize

Public Housing resident delegations from 9 districts in the 5 boroughs to Launch a

Campaign get FULL FUNDING FOR PUBLIC HOUSING and OUR fair share of

federal appropriations, and stop the all out attack on people in Public Housing.

We as residents and resident leaders are determined to restore the massive losses in

capital and operations funds of NYCHA and specifically address policy problems,

generated by massive budget cuts by the US Senate, US Congress and major policy

shifts at the US Department of HUD that are destroying resident rights. The Budget

cuts that we have endured for decades now have negatively impacted on the lives of

Public Housing Residents in this city. Community Centers have closed, there are

backlogs in essential repairs and maintenance; and plans to preserve Public

Housing cannot be achieved unless there is practical restoration of these funds and

the reclassification of PUBLIC HOUSING AS ESSENTIAL INFRASTRUCTURE.

All we have been getting is CRUMBS off the table of Budget allocations!

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The CCOP represents the more than 500,000 residents and families that live in

Public Housing in the 5 boroughs of the NYC Metro Area. We are significant

contributors to the NYC Metro economy by bringing in and fueling the economic

engine with Billions of dollars in Federal funds, capital projects, and the capital cash

flow of the rents of 178,000 families every moth every year. We are not receiving our

fare share of the socioeconomic equity we have invested in this city.

We are here today to Mobilize Public Housing Residents City Wide to begin a

campaign to Get The White House, US Congress, the US Senate, Albany, the

Governor and the City of New York, to really Join us in our fight to restore Full and

Level Funding for NYCHA for Capital, Operations, Community Programs, and

Full Section 3 Compliance in all contracts with NYCHA. NO MORE CRUMBS!

The Current Federal Budget and Policy for Public Housing is dismal and does not

adequately meet the needs of NYCHA facilities or its residents. Public Housing

Residents deserve a budget that treats our homes as valuable infrastructure.

We want a seat at the table and a full course, and NO MORE CRUMBS!

The Federal Budget for Public Housing must also include funding to implement full

economic, health and social development programs to aid families’ youth and the

growing senior populations that reside in Public Housing in New York. If we cannot

get an equitable share of the funding needed to preserve and restore Public Housing

then we must use the power of the ballot to shape our future.

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The only solution is a political one: Resident Engagement and mobilization for

political action! NO MORE CRUMBS!!!

"The key to strengthening, preserving and improving public housing in New York

City is developing an informed, capable and activist resident leadership that can

(will) enlist and leverage the support and influence of community, business,

educational and political resources.

Public housing residents in New York City constitute a numerically significant (and

therefore a politically powerful) voting block that (could potentially) (we are

mobilizing) to determine the elections of the City's mayor, as well as various

members of the City Council and Borough Presidents, state senators and

assemblymen, and federal senators and Congress members, and yes the President of

the United States. We are therefore today launching a campaign to harness and

direct this political power (is equivalent to bargain power) that Shall (could) be used

to strengthen our position at the budget and policy table and, preserve and improve

public housing indefinitely into the future.

We as Residents and leaders are taking a stand this day (to gain) by mobilizing and

coordinating the strength of our (their) numbers and developing our role as public

housing advocates." We are sending a message today that we want heard loud and

clear: NO MORE CRUMBS FOR PUBLIC HOUSING!

WE want: Level funding for Public Housing Capital and Operating Funds

indefinitely now and into the future

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WE Want: To Restore Full Funding for Public Housing Capital, Operating, Community

Operations Budgets,

WE Want: Section 3 Contract Compliance for Public Housing Residents Agreements

WE Want: A more open process in the selection of a public Housing Resident on the

NYCHA Board.

WE Want: Commitments from elected officials, for Long Range full funding Action and

Commitment to engage the resident leadership in meaningful input on all Federal, State

City Public Housing Funding and Policy.

QUOTES FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS:

Quote from Congressman Rangel:

"The fact of the matter is that cuts to the Public Housing Operating Fund and the Public
Housing Capital Fund make little sense as we try to support families in these rough
economic times," said Congressman Rangel. "We know all too well what happens to
communities when homes fall into disrepair. Yet, the Republican budget plan of gutting
vital programs -- like Medicaid and Medicare -- and curtailing important investments in
housing, health and the education will not create jobs, but instead derail the economic
recovery that is beginning to happen.”