A decade ago Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH) began its mission to establish and protect fair housing in the Broadway Triangle. At their sold out gala held at the Weylin on May 23rd, CUFFH honored Oona Chatterjee, Center for Popular Democracy with the Solidarity Award, CUFFH Youth Council Members: Samairy Pina, Catherine Murray, Lauriana Beras and Emely Rodriguez received the leadership award, and Council Member Antonio Reynoso was named their Person of the Decade.
Within a week of this celebration CUFFH was alongside Public Advocate Jumaane Williams when he announced that he will introduce new legislation that would include a racial impact analysis as part of the City’s environmental impact study. This past January CUFFH launched their Racial Impact Study Campaign, which aims to combat racial segregation that is caused by the city’s rezoning, in particular the 2005 Williamsburg waterfront rezoning. CUFFH proposed the addition of a Racial Impact Study (RIS) to the environmental impact study, already required during the rezoning process. Willaims, a council member at that time supported the study.
“As I was running for Public Advocate, I met with advocacy groups including CUFFH, which had an amazing idea that would aid in issues with rezoning. Rezonings have had a net effect of speeding up gentrification. If people are going to be gentrified out, that should be paid attention to and studied,” stated Williams
The Greenline 