Memo Salazar from the Western Queens Community Land Trust discuss the formation and mission of the CLT, its role in combating gentrification, and the broader challenges of housing affordability in New York City. The conversation delves into the failed Amazon HQ2 project, the “City of Yes” rezoning initiative, and the importance of community engagement in urban development.

While we didn’t agree on everything, and differ on what we think is driving housing unaffordability, we agree that a wider set of housing options besides just market rate housing is needed to make NYC more affordable, and envisioning a positive future is imperative.

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Memo is a Mexican-born filmmaker and writer living in Queens, NY. As a filmmaker, he has directed a Public Enemy music video, worked with homeless children & Elmo for Sesame Street, and collaborated with theoretical physicist Brian Greene on a Ted Talk. As an activist, he co-runs the Sunnyside CSA and is the co-chair of the Western Queens CLT. He is also a recipient of Arena’s Five Borough Future fellowship and of the 2019 Queens Latinx leadership award for community activism.

Spotlight: New York City’s Housing Supply Challenge

“New York City’s housing market is one of the priciest in the nation. The brisk growth in the city’s economy in the decade leading up to the pandemic was not accompanied by comparably rapid growth in the city’s housing stock. This has contributed to a growing problem of affordability for many residents as well as prospective residents wanting to move here. During the pandemic, as the city’s population slipped, indicators of affordability temporarily eased, but only briefly and predominantly for middle- and high-income residents. As the pandemic faded, jobs returned, many people who had left moved back, immigration renewed, and the increase in work-from-home led some to seek more residential space, the supply shortage became even more severe. This intensifying shortage of housing is not unique to New York City but instead ubiquitous across the nation – suggesting that national, state, and local solutions are all needed.”

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