City receives $1M grant to help stop ‘displacement’

The city will use a $1 million grant from Enterprise Community Partners Inc. “to implement targeted strategies designed to help prevent displacement of residents from their homes and community,” according to Mayor Steve Noble’s office.

Kingston is one of 10 municipalities to receive $1 million in funding from Enterprise Community Partners to implement strategies identified through participation in the New York State’s Anti-Displacement Learning Network, the city said. Each municipality formed an Anti-Displacement Learning Network team last year made up of local stakeholders, elected officials and staff who worked with Enterprise over nine months to identify displacement triggers and design targeted approaches to address them, a press release from the city stated.

The city’s team includes Noble, RUPCO Vice President Guy Kemp, Common Council President Andrea Shaut, Alderman Jeffrey Ventura Morell, Kingston Director of Housing Initiatives Mike Gilliard, Kingston YMCA Associate Executive Director Rashida Tyler, and Midtown Rising Executive Director Frank Waters.

“The first step will be to form a Project Advisory Committee, which will be made up of community members that will help guide the rest of this process,” Summer Smith, the city’s director of communications and com

munity engagement, said in an email Monday. “The PAC will work closely with Enterprise, attending a series of upcoming learning sessions, from January to

March, and then the PAC will help further the strategies that are identified.

“Strategies that have already been discussed include creating a housing trust fund and integrating specific anti- displacement goals into the city’s future rezoning plan,” Smith said. “These are just a couple as

pects of the strategy that will be implemented with the $1 million grant. We expect to be able to share more concrete plans in the coming months.”

Enterprise worked with the state Attorney General’s Office, PolicyLink and the Center for Community Progress to design the

learning network sessions and collaborate with jurisdiction teams on developing their strategies, the press release said. It said Enterprise will continue working with Kingston to implement the strategies so community members at risk of displacement can remain in their homes.

Resident displacement is a major cause of community destabilization across New York state, the city said. It said displacement disproportionately harms low-income communities and people of color, furthering racial inequity and causing increased and entrenched poverty, economic immobil

ity, and weakened cultural ties and support networks.

“Housing is a fundamental right for all people,” Noble said in a statement. “With the worsening pandemic, increased demand in our area, and rising housing costs, we as a city need to do everything possible to make sure no one loses their home.”