Metropolitics

New York City's Descent into Neoliberal Policy: A Review of Benjamin Holtzman's The Long Crisis

John Krinsky — 2022-07-19T05:00:00Z

Benjamin Holtzman's The Long Crisis tells the story of New York's prolonged descent into neoliberal policy. For those trying to innovate community-based solutions to the shredding of welfare-state programs, it is a cautionary tale of cooptation and twisted intentions.
Benjamin Holtzman's The Long Crisis is a sharp account of New York City's turn toward neoliberal governance over the last 50 years. In six substantive, jargon-free chapters covering low-income housing, middle-class rental

- Reviews / housing, neoliberalism, land use, real estate, urban renewal, New York

Swept Away: Public Work and the Politics of Employment in New York City's Parks

John Krinsky & Maud Simonet — 2017-09-06T04:36:46Z

Upwards of 4,000 unionized civil-service workers once cleaned and maintained New York City's parks. Today about 1,800 such workers share this task with volunteers, employees of nonprofit organizations on contract with the city, community-service sentencees, and former welfare recipients doing temporary parks work in hopes of obtaining permanent positions. John Krinsky and Maud Simonet trace the evolving political economy of parks work in New York, demonstrating its impact on workers. They also

- From the Field / parks, civil service, green spaces, employment, work, New York, sexual harassment, trade unions, community service, volunteers, workfare

On Our Own: Protecting and Developing Social Housing in the Trump Era

John Krinsky — 2017-01-13T06:00:00Z

In response to a tense post-election moment in the US, the Metropolitics editorial committee has initiated Rapid-Response Peer Review, with a commitment to quickly reviewing and publishing articles that examine organizing and activism around crucial urban issues. Our second call was for papers related to housing policy. John Krinsky argues for a sustained public commitment to housing at the state and local level—a “progressive federalism”—in order to prevent the worsening of New York City's

- Debates / housing, housing policy, social housing, New York, public housing, Donald Trump, federalism

Managing New York City's Rental Housing Catastrophe: The Once and Future Potential of Tax-Foreclosed Properties

John Krinsky — 2015-10-20T05:00:00Z

New York City faces a rental housing crisis, with homelessness at record levels, more than a million households spending over 30% of their incomes on rent, and the number of apartments renting for $1,000 or less plunging fast. The city has an opportunity to manage this catastrophe, argues John Krinsky, by reviving a policy it pioneered in the “dark days” after the 1974 fiscal crisis: that of taking control of tax-delinquent property neglected by private owners and transferring it to nonprofit

- Essays / housing policy, New York, housing crisis, New York City housing policy, de Blasio administration, tax-lien sales