About two years ago, Picture the Homeless tried to get the City Council to make a yearly inventory of the New York’s vacant properties — asking Councilman Eric Dilan, housing and buildings committee chair, to give the group’s proposal a hearing.
The City Council refused, with one member reportedly saying that “it would cost millions of dollars” to conduct an annual census.
Picture the Homeless, however, did its own study — and found that it only cost $150,000 to analyze 1/3 of New York.
The conclusion: There are more empty buildings and lots than there are homeless people — and more than enough property to give every New Yorker a place to live.
Armed with stats — and cost-analyses — Picture the Homeless will again ask Dilan to grant a hearing to the housing measure.
The group also wants the City to develop more affordable housing, and says that there’s room enough to house almost 200,000 people.
The non-profit plans on sticking Dilan with the bill — the group will ask him publicly on Saturday to pay for “doing his job at a substantially lower cost than public officials estimated.”
Ouch.
Runnin’ Scared has reached out to Dilan’s office to see whether he’ll grant the measure, Intro 48, a hearing. We’ll update if we hear back.
More:Media