Tag: Asians

New York City Councilwomen Upset that Too Many Asians are Moving Into Public Housing

| March 28, 2015

Could you imagine what the media reaction would be to this if it was a white Republican claiming too many (enter ethnic minority) group was moving into public housing?

A Brooklyn city councilmember on Thursday made the bizarre claim that a wave of Asians has invaded public housing developments in her district.

Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo made the unusual statement at a hearing Thursday on the Housing Authority’s funding problems.

Addressing NYCHA Chairwoman Shola Olatoye, Cumbo — who represents a wide patch of Brooklyn from Fort Greene to Crown Heights — asked why “certain ethnic groups come in” to a NYCHA development “in blocks.”

NYCHA has a waiting list of 250,000 hoping for public housing, and tenants are picked strictly in chronological order, with preference given for homeless families and victims of domestic violence.

So a clearly perplexed Olatoye asked Cumbo to elaborate.

Cumbo then stated, “We have a large Asian population in our district — and we love them.”

Without identifying specifics — such as which development she meant — she claimed that this particular ethnic community “had the opportunity to move into a development in large numbers.”  [NY Daily News via reader tip]

So I guess the councilwoman loves the Asian community, just not enough to allow them to move into public housing.