Cumbo Criticized For Question About Growing Asian American Population In Fort Greene NYCHA Houses

Councilmember Laurie Cumbo issued an apology on Thursday (March 26) for remarks made during a City Council Public Housing Committee hearing where she asked whether the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) had a “cultural preference priority” for Asian American applicants.

During the hearing, Cumbo told NYCHA Commissioner/CEO Shola Olatoye that several of her Fort Greene and Clinton Hill constituents “don’t understand how one particular ethnic group. . . has had the opportunity to move into a development in large numbers” in a short period of time.

As first reported in the New York Observer, Olatoye responded that “there’s very few sort of waves of people coming in, as we are so tight, because, as there are a finite number of units.”

Olatoye noted that NYCHA has a vacancy rate of less than one percent—which would seem to make what Ms. Cumbo was describing unlikely or even impossible. . . She continued by noting that federal fair housing guidelines require NYCHA to rent to people of all backgrounds, and pointed out that New York has always been a hub for newly arrived ethnic groups.

“We are a changing society, so definitely that is the value and the reality of our city,” she said. “I would embrace these people.”

According to Cumbo, it’s not an issue of whether the new residents of Asian descent are embraced; it’s a question of whether they are being approved for housing more quickly.

“We have a very large Asian population in our district, which we love, and they add something very valuable to our community and our district, and they are welcomed in our district,” she said. “But . . . people from all ethnicities could be moving into the district, but that’s not actually the case.”

More data is needed to see whether the race demographics of recent NYCHA arrivals to the Walt Whitman Houses and Ingersoll Houses actually bear this out, but in the meantime, Cumbo reiterated in her post-hearing statement of apology/clarification, that:

“The question I posed. . . was focused on bringing transparency and clarity to the randomization process outlined in the Tenant Selection and Assignment Plan Policy. . . It was not my intention to offend the Asian community or any other cultural group that calls NYCHA home.”

What do you think? Have you observed more Asian American residents than other ethnicities arriving in NYCHA housing in recent years?