At our September 28th member meeting at The Middle Collegiate Church in East Village, the Village Voice was there, interviewing members Caroline Woolard, Rafael Jose, Drew Kiriazides, and Malaika Martin.
The story also covers the proliferation of groups that have similar objectives: cooperative real estate and permanent affordability.
“The REIC isn’t the only organization in New York working toward cooperative real estate goals. Founded in 1973, the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board has preserved over 1,700 buildings and created 30,000 home-ownership opportunities, while getting to know New York’s low-income co-op community. And in March, the community organizing project Greater Brooklyn formed the “NYC Cooperative Housing Exchange” a Facebook group of now almost 800 members, designed to “aid in the creation of new cooperative houses, link people up to houses with vacancies, and to assist in the exchange of resources between co-ops.” The REIC however focuses on affordable commercial space, with efforts comparable to the Small Businesses Jobs Survival Act to “level the playing field for business owners when negotiating fair lease terms,” or the Artist Studio Affordability Project, which advocates for legislation to keep studio space affordable.”
Read the full article here.