To: Letitia James, New York City Council Member, Walter Mosely, Assemblymember, and Eric Adams, State Senator

Guarantee Affordable Housing in the Crown Heights West Rezoning

We, the undersigned, petition our elected officials to call on the New York City Council to guarantee affordable housing in the Crown Heights West rezoning. We urge the New York City Council to incorporate mandatory inclusionary zoning, which would guarantee the creation of affordable housing in new developments within a designated area, and establish an anti-harassment area in western Crown Heights, which would increase penalties for tenant harassment in the rezoned area.

Why is this important?

Despite the drastic increase in rent in the Crown Heights neighborhood, the proposed rezoning for Crown Heights West offers no guarantees that new housing will be affordable to existing residents. The rezoning only includes a voluntary incentive, called Inclusionary Zoning, for developers to build some affordable units within market-rate developments. This incentive has a track record in NYC of resulting in few affordable units, and a vast array of luxury housing.

Regardless of whether developers take the affordable housing incentive, they would be allowed to build larger buildings, which would increase the property value. This could mean:
• Rents could increase.
• Existing housing and retail space could be demolished.
• Tenants could face increased harassment to leave their apartments.

We need your help to tell the New York City Council to include protections for affordable housing and increased penalties for harassing tenants in the proposed Crown Heights West rezoning. We're asking NYC to:
1. Adopt Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning, a policy that guarantees a certain percentage of affordable units in new developments under a rezoning.
2. Establish an anti-harassment area, which requires the City to look into whether harassment occurred when it receives demolition requests and penalizes landlords who harass tenants.

This petition is sponsored by the Crown Heights Assembly, a coalition of long-term residents and newcomers working for affordable and harassment-free housing in Crown Heights.