Last week’s roundtable discussion on affordable housing and preservation drew a standing-room only crowd, and lots of viewers to the live, on-line web broadcast. Moderated by GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman, panelists included Hon. Gale Brewer; Manhattan Borough President; Councilmember Rosie Mendez, former Chair of the NYC Council Public Housing Committee; Harvey Epstein, Project Director of the Community Development Project of the Urban Justice Center and NYC Rent Guidelines Board Member; Nadine Maleh, Director of the Inspiring Places program at Community Solutions; and Rachel Meltzer, Assistant Professor of Urban Policy at The New School. These experts in the field had a lot to say about how we can keep New York City affordable while also preserving the scale and character of our neighborhoods, giving lie to the Real Estate Board of New York and the developer lobby’s pernicious claim that affordability and preservation are at odds.

There were many interesting moments in the evening, including when the panelists were asked if they were aware of any case where preservation prevented affordable housing from being built or resulted in the loss of existing affordable housing. The unanimous answer: “No.” Read the report on the panel from The Villager here.

You can watch the video of the entire discussion on our YouTube page here. Click here for videos of other past GVSHP programs, here for all other GVSHP videos, and here for a list of upcoming GVSHP programs.

Special thanks to our co-sponsors the Historic Districts Council, and The New School Center for New York City Affairs for hosting and co-sponsoring.