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Our community has marched to City Hall and testified at recent public hearings held by the City Council on the development, but jobs and apartments for low-income residents have still not been included in the plans.
The developer of the project, Streuver Fideldo Capeilli (SFC Yonkers) has so far agreed to setting aside a 6% affordable apartments component for middle-income residents, that would require an income of $50,000-$120,000 a year to qualify.
These apartments would be too far out of reach for the residents in the neighborhood surrounding the development, where the Average Median Income (AMI) is $26,488 a year. The City Council will soon decide whether or not to approve the development and give numerous tax breaks, city land, and $159 million in tax money to the developer, (SFC Yonkers) Streuver Fidelco Cappelli.
The city wants to use $159 million dollars of our tax money for this development that is not benefiting anyone but who it is intended for – the wealthy. We need to take that tax money and use it for the things the current low-income residents of Yonkers need for their communities. It seems that Yonkers is trying to comply with the desegregation case by running us out completely. When you take all the low-income housing, you are taking low-income people of color away too. So we are here tonight fighting for our families, fighting for our communities, and fighting for ourselves. We are demanding that the city.
1) Not tear down any more public housing.
2) Include apartments that low-income residents can afford in the development.
3) And train and hire Yonkers residents for the new jobs it creates.
Over 50 community meetings have been held by the developer. We have been to these meetings, but none of the developer’s plans have changed to include what low-income families need. We’ve heard that they plan to include only 6% affordable housing. Who will these apartments be affordable to? Without a number defining what affordable is, they are telling us nothing. There has not been a genuine attempt to reach out to the community and we still do NOT have a seat at the table. If the development does not include jobs for us and housing we can afford, we are going to be pushed out of this community.
