Where Does Public Land Come From? Municipalization and Privatization Debates

Oksana Mironova & Samuel Stein — 2018-03-06T06:00:00Z

This article illuminates contemporary land-use and disposition struggles in New York City by tracing the history of land's passage between the private and public realms. The authors contend that government and community-controlled nonprofit organizations should govern the disposition of the city's remaining public land supply, deliberately deploying this scarce resource to promote the well-being of the people and neighborhoods most at risk in a speculation-fueled real-estate environment.
For

- Debates / land, New York, privatization, community land trusts, tax-lien sales, public land, municipalization, land use

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

Metropolitics

Where Does Public Land Come From? Municipalization and Privatization Debates

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