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Howard Slatkin

@hslatkin.bsky.social
749 followers 288 following 422 posts

Urban planner, New Yorker, more. Executive Director at Citizens’ Housing and Planning Council. Views expressed here are my own.

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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Today the NYC Council is holding an oversight hearing on work order practices at NYCHA and in the PACT program. It’s a good time to re-up @chpcny.bsky.social’s February brief on what violations data tell us about PACT: chpcny.org/publication/... (PACT has outperformed other multifamily housing)
chpcny.org
Web Brief: What the Data Says about Housing Violations and PACT - CHPC New York
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
It is a strenuous feat of editorial gymnastics that this article does not name the ham-fisted symbolism of the federal government placing the essential symbol of America’s open arms toward immigration behind a prison-like fence in the name of “security.” 🗽 www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/n...
nytimes.com
A Fence Blocks a Famous View of New York Harbor
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
In my new piece in @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social, “Landlords: the ‘Good,’ the ‘Bad’ and the Ugly Finacial Realities,” I unpack common assumptions about the motivations of landlords, noting that many of the most benevolently motivated landlords are struggling today. www.vitalcitynyc.org/rental-ripof...
vitalcitynyc.org
Landlords: The ‘Good,’ the ‘Bad’ and the Ugly Financial Realities
Should we see landlords and tenants as rival prizefighters, or as potential partners trapped in a dysfunctional system?
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Get out your headphones, go out for a run, and listen to @benmax.bsky.social, @annemariegray.bsky.social, and me discuss housing policy priorities for NYC - from environmental review procedures to operating expenses to housing lotteries - so much to do! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
podcasts.apple.com
Housing Priorities for the Mamdani Admin, SEQRA Reform, & More, with Howard Slatkin & Annemarie Gray
Podcast Episode · Max Politics · March 13 · 1h 17m
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
The audit described here is a great example of how a failure to consider context can lead policymakers to miss the point completely - and it illustrates how this kind of thinking helps keep us buried in a crisis of homelessness and housing insecurity. /1 gothamist.com/news/new-aud...
gothamist.com
New audit points to potential savings for rental aid program that Mamdani pledged to expand
The state comptroller’s office found inefficient processes and dangerous conditions in apartments leased through the CityFHEPS housing voucher program.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
A blanket of snow is a great reminder that some things aren’t about you
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
This was literally the code requirement for basement or cellar dwelling spaces in NYC - imposing $000,000s of costs on the legalization of an existing unit - until recent legislative reforms. Important fixes to make
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
I’d say this was as ridiculous as Don Quixote, but he was a weak-minded old man who attacked windmills, rather than being afraid they were coming to get him
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
In the flurry of Council votes, people seem not to have noticed that because of the way the the bills were drafted, they require (for instance) 40% of new affordable senior housing to be 2BR and 3BR units. Which is implausible & means we won’t be able to build any. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/18/c...
thecity.nyc
Council Approves Gig Worker and Vendor Reforms, Building Rules and More in Marathon Year-End Session
Lawmakers considered more than 50 bills during the final meeting of the Council for 2025.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
An excellent selection!
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
“It’s not that Times New Roman is a bad font. It’s just that you can and should do better.” Typography and policy converge. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Is Times New Roman Better Than Calibri for the State Department?
Type designers weigh in on the recent decision to replace Calibri with Times New Roman in official documents.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
A churning mix of heartbreak and anger at the news from Brown. Thinking of how when I took finals in Barus & Holley the worst thing I had to worry about was the exam. That’s what it should be like to be a student. Not this.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
NYC’s Department of Buildings has a tough but important task to administer the basement apartment legalization program. Housing advocates are eager to support effective implementation, but can’t accept a program that’s not designed to succeed. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/08/b...
thecity.nyc
Basement Apartment Rules Get Low Marks from Housing Experts
Long-awaited city regulations to let basement residences get legalized could add risks for homeowners, bring more harm than help, housing advocates and lawyers say.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
City of Yes - allowing a little more housing everywhere - was a critical first step. Charter reform to fix the dysfunctional process for approving affordable housing was the next. Wrangling costs so the finances of affordable housing work is the next challenge. Let’s start by not making it worse.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Footnote: this superfluous federal parking garage should have been an affordable housing development site years ago
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
I don’t believe in being reductionist, but there are two types of people in this world: people who have the spark of humanity and are fundamentally capable of making this world a better place for us all, and people who leave their dog poop bags in curbside recycling containers
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
It sure would be nice if the incoming NYC Mayoral administration were to move their social messaging operation from the Nazi site to this one. Or at least activate all the dormant City accounts here.
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
The Coast Guard reversed its 'swastikas aren't all that bad' policy just hours after the Washpost broke the story. It's both surprising, and good, to see that one government agency these days is capable of being embarrassed, and changing course quickly. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
washingtonpost.com
In reversal, Coast Guard again classifies swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The new order came hours after The Post reported the service would instead classify such symbols as “potentially divisive” under guidelines set for release next month.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Accurate in that they “potentially divide” Nazis from people who should be allowed to serve in the US armed forces Really looking forward to when that White House priority of stamping out anti-semitism gets up and running. Any day now, I’m sure
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Don’t look away from this
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
For a body whose members often profess that affordable housing is their top priority, the City Council prioritizes a lot of things ahead of affordable housing www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
crainsnewyork.com
Developers alarmed as council advances minimum wage for affordable housing projects
The Construction Justice Act would set a $40 wage-and-benefit floor, increasing the cost of building.
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Matthew Cortland (they) @matthewcort.land · 11/11/2025
Rick Scott was CEO of a large, for-profit healthcare company called HCA. While Rick Scott was CEO, HCA stole so much money from Medicare they were fined $1.7 Billion.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
This a terrible idea that has the benefit of sounding even worse
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Striking how Brooklyn accounts for both the top 5 Mamdani (blue) and top 5 Cuomo (purple) districts
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 05/11/2025
ah, perhaps instead of pumping millions into endless factional infighting Dem donors could invest in making local Dem organizations genuine civic spaces that can reach people during and between elections
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
I know there’s other stuff going on tonight too, but … NYC’s Charter now has new processes to approve more affordable housing, more quickly, and in more places.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
I don’t care what your political sympathies are, you can’t just post “BREAKING: [candidate of my choice] wins” without citing which reputable source has called the race No, not even in an off-year election
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
Game 7 tension + house full of Halloween candy = bad scene
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Priorities
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
As you prepare to vote, NYC, please read my op-ed about the importance of NYC voting yes on questions 2 through 5: www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/fli... These changes aren’t about the needs of politicians. They’re about the needs of New Yorkers. /1
vitalcitynyc.org
Vital City | Flip the Script, and the Ballot, for Housing
City Charter changes would help produce the affordable apartments New York desperately needs.
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Ian Carrillo @iansociologo.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
A friend of mine in Chicago just shared a video on IG of an ICE operation near her house. The operation happened just minutes before the neighborhood Halloween parade. ICE used tear gas and multiple parents had to wash their kids' (including toddlers) eyes out.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
Unstated background for this NYT point/counterpoint piece: One author has financed tens of thousands of units of affordable housing. The other has built none, and made a career of arguing against building proposals. Guess which says YES on affordable housing. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Will New York Voters Choose to Speed Up Housing Construction?
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
For people looking to tune out the noise and understand NYC’s affordable housing ballot questions (#2-5), here’s a tl;dr: They would tame the hyperlocalism of “member deference,” which contributes to housing shortages and segregation - in NYC and Chicago: www.povertylaw.org/article/shri...
povertylaw.org
Shriver Center Files Federal Complaint Challenging Aldermanic Power - Shriver Center on Poverty Law
Complaint seeks new housing and zoning laws in Chicago to ensure the creation of affordable housing across all neighborhoods, not just some.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
NYC’s avant press never ceases to amaze me nygroove.nyc/housing-refe...
nygroove.nyc
What do the housing ballot referendums mean and how should I vote on them?
Understand the big proposals that claim to streamline new affordable housing
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Great piece from @errollouis.bsky.social about how important a yes vote on ballot questions 2, 3, 4, 5 is to NYC’s ability to take on our affordability crisis. You’ll see obfuscation and name-calling, but no solutions from those who say the current system is just fine. nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com
The Ballot Question That May Matter More Than the Mayoral Race
Voters have the chance to eliminate one of the central obstacles to New York’s housing crisis.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Doing right with courage gives courage. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
nytimes.com
Brown University Rejects White House Deal for Special Treatment
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
The City Council and its Charter Revision Commission continue to use public funds to conduct a campaign against ballot questions proponents say will spur affordable housing. Even in 2025, from a good government (ethical, legal) perspective, this is shocking. www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...
crainsnewyork.com
Council takes fight against housing ballot questions straight to voters
Council officials claimed the charter reforms would spell “the end of single- and two-family homes.”
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Curious choice of location for this event opposing Charter reforms that would tame member deference: Essex Crossing, a site built with affordable housing today, but which sat vacant for decades because of ... ... opposition to affordable housing development from a powerful local elected official.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
There is a shortage of fearless, topical journalism in institutions once known for this
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Charlie Sykes @sykescharlie.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
People need to look at these pictures and ask, is this America? Does this look like America? Does this look like the America you want it to be? open.substack.com/pub/charlies...
open.substack.com
The Attack on Chicago
People need to look at these pictures and ask, is this America?
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Dave Byrnes @djbyrnes1.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
Headed off scene. Local community understandably very upset. I still personally don't have any details on the reported shooting incident that led to today's protest. WBEZ has a story out; remember things are still developing and details can change quickly. www.wbez.org/immigration/...
wbez.org
Federal agents shoot woman they say 'boxed in' authorities on Chicago's Southwest Side
Authorities were on patrol when they were "rammed by 10 cars," according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security. The woman who was shot "was armed with a semi-automatic weapon," promp...
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Surreal moment for America. Needless to say, if the normal police ever pulled something like this — pulling every single person out of an apartment building and handcuffing them to run warrant checks — they would be sued into oblivion. Yet ICE is going to get away with it entirely.
"It was scary, because I had never had a gun in my face," Fisher said. "They asked my name and my date of birth and asked me, did I have any warrants? And I told them, 'No, 'Ididn't."
Fisher said she was handcuffed before being released around 3 a.m., and she was told that if anyone had any kind of warrant out for them, even if it was unrelated to immigration, they would not be released.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
So, the idea is that there should be an environmental review for a referendum to change the City's land use review processes? The processes set up in 1989 without an environmental review. And modified in 2019 without an environmental review. Charter referenda don't have environmental reviews.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Kudos to the NYC Council for approving Just Home - an important project, bottled up for too long without even a hearing - and another affordable development, both over local member objections. In a city that treats affordability as an urgent priority, actions like this would not be exceptional.
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Citizens Housing and Planning Council @chpcny.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
A new op-ed from CHPC’s @hslatkin.bsky.social in @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social illuminates how misunderstanding of rent-stabilized apartment data is contributing to a mounting financial crisis in the housing New York City's low-income residents rely on. www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...
vitalcitynyc.org
Vital City | The Rent Is Too Damn High (But Also Too Low)
Three strategies for addressing both the needs of renters and the financial challenges of maintaining their buildings
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The Immortal Doom @doomforpresident.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Ironic, isn’t it?
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✨ A Goddess has NO KING ✨ @the-goddess-speaks.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
This may be hard, but it isn’t complicated. Political violence is intolerable. Political rhetoric that stokes violence - by vigilantes or agents of the state - is a tool of political violence, and is intolerable. Condemn and reject all leaders who stir the pot of political violence.
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Howard Slatkin @hslatkin.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
This would be daylight robbery of NYC’s democratic process.
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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Reads like the statute guiding the actions of the Charter Commission. If you feel like the Charter Commission has failed to meet that standard, you'd sue the charter commission and force them to redraft the questions — which were published two months ago, fwiw. BOE as an end-run is baaaaaaaaaaad.
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