On January 5 Make the Road New York, an Alliance for a Just Society affiliate, won passage of comprehensive New York City legislation that will crack down on dangerous housing conditions that endanger the health and well-being of families. According to MRNY, everyday thousands of families in New York City are endangered by sub-standard housing conditions that trigger asthma. Although asthma is epidemic in New York’s low-income communities of color and is the leading cause of hospitalization and missed school days among NYC children landlords frequently fail to treat infestation of rodents, mold and cockroaches that cause these asthma attacks.
The legislation, Intro 436-A, will require building-wide remediation of asthma-triggering housing code violations in thousands of the worst housing units throughout New York City. The law will also strengthen the impact of the City’s innovative Alternative Enforcement Program, designed to fix NYC’s 200 worst buildings each year, by doubling the number of housing units repaired annually to more 3,000.
Read more about Make the Road New York’s health justice work here.