For Rachel Fee \u201997, the logic behind her work at the New York Housing Conference (NYHC) is simple: \u201cWe have Social Security for when you grow old. We have food stamps for when you are hungry. We need a safety net for housing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For nearly two decades, Fee has been working to provide \u201cdecent, stable, affordable housing\u201d for more New Yorkers through policy change, addressing the city\u2019s growing demand for affordable units and skyrocketing rents \u2014 the worst shortage since the late 1960s and what Mayor Eric Adams has called a \u201chousing emergency.\u201d As executive director of the New York City\u2013 based nonprofit, Fee and her colleagues analyze public policy and work with legislators to \u201cfind solutions,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fee, who graduated with a dual major in political science and peace and conflict studies, got \u201cbit by the housing bug\u201d as a project manager for New York City\u2019s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, working on a supportive housing loan program for the formerly unhoused. Soon promoted to the agency\u2019s director of strategic planning then federal affairs, Fee worked in the Bloomberg administration for eight years before moving into advocacy, successfully leading an effort to double capital investment in the city\u2019s affordable housing plan under Mayor Bill de Blasio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In her current position since 2014, Fee often serves as NYHC\u2019s spokesperson in the media and works with policymakers \u2014 including Mayor Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul \u2014 to advance legislation that can alleviate the crisis, which, says Fee, is especially dire in Black and Latinx communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cExclusionary zoning practices that limit the number of multifamily or low- income units that can be built in certain neighborhoods perpetuate decades-old segregation and discrimination,\u201d says Fee, who is currently leading the Yes to Housing Coalition on citywide zoning reforms. \u201cAt its core, housing poverty is really a social justice issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fee is especially passionate about federal policy change, including a push to strengthen the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and remove a requirement that limits the construction of new affordable units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAbout half of Housing Tax Credit developments are subject to a test in which they can receive the full amount of financing only if at least 50% of the project is financed with tax-exempt private activity bonds,\u201d Fee explains. According to NYHC\u2019s research, lowering that threshold to 25% would incentivize construction projects and could create more than 60,000 affordable and low-income units over the course of the next decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fee is also a proponent of expanding New York\u2019s Section 8 program, making rental assistance universal for renters who fall below an income threshold. This expansion \u2014 the subject of a 2021 New York Daily News <\/em>op-ed Fee co-authored with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries \u2014 would have an outsized impact on Black, Latinx, and single-female\u2013headed families, lifting them out of poverty and, most important, says Fee, transforming lives for generations of children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have research to show that children who grow up in stable, affordable housing have better physical and mental health outcomes. So for me, that\u2019s the driver,\u201d she says. \u201cAt the end of the day, the people who are left out are the ones we need to lift up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrea Kretchmer \u201984, founder and co-owner of Xenolith Partners, is addressing the supply-and-demand problem at the heart of the crisis by increasing supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, she says, her work requires incredible patience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s taken us six years to create 200 new apartments when there are thousands and thousands of people in need. The system moves very, very slowly,\u201d Kretchmer explains. \u201cBut if we don\u2019t do what we\u2019re doing, there\u2019s no hope at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her company specializes in building affordable units in and around New York City, many of which feature supportive services for vulnerable populations, including the formerly unhoused and incarcerated, LGBTQ+ seniors, and people living with HIV and AIDS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Raised on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side by \u201chardcore, liberal, New York Jews,\u201d Kretchmer learned early in life the importance of community. Later, as a full-time mom after pausing her career in environmental consulting (she was a geology major at Colgate), Kretchmer committed herself to volunteerism: the PTA, Little League, and her synagogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But after a decade, she was ready to get back to work \u2014 this time in real estate. She enlisted her father, a longtime Manhattan real estate developer, to help her break into the affordable housing development business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople said to me when I started, \u2018there are faster and more profitable ways to do real estate,\u201d she says. \u201cBut [affordable housing] was something I wanted to do. I wanted to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The father-daughter duo had enough success that Kretchmer was confident to strike out on her own, founding Xenolith (the name a nod to Kretchmer\u2019s geology background) in 2016 and adding partner Terri Belkas-Mitchell, a former real estate analyst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their work requires navigating the tangled web of state and federal tax credits and withstanding \u201cdeep scrutiny\u201d from city agencies. What helps Xenolith win bids, says Kretchmer, is their proposals\u2019 focus on community. They\u2019re not just building units for residents to sleep in, but true neighborhoods, with fitness centers, playgrounds, gardens, and pools; and supportive services like workforce training programs, legal assistance, and even medical care for residents who need them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Xenolith is also known for taking a creative approach to new development. Current projects include the conversion of a former elementary school in Connecticut into affordable senior housing, a former police station will become housing for people living with HIV and AIDS, and a 72- unit Brooklyn complex provides supportive services for formerly incarcerated women and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want everybody to not just live independently, but also to live with dignity and with support, if that\u2019s what they need,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And despite the grim data surrounding the crisis (in spring 2024, NYC hit its lowest vacancy rate since 1968 at 1.4%), Kretchmer is characteristically patient \u2014 and optimistic. \u201cWe just have to keep chipping away at this massive problem, one unit at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fee and Kretchmer are pals \u2014 and cross paths once a year in Albany on Lobby Day, where they join other advocates for affordable housing to push for funding.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two alumnae are working to solve the housing crisis one unit at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1272,"featured_media":15252,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[2323,354,50,65,622,2324,825,1574,1425,293,440],"coauthors":[1720],"class_list":["post-15248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-spotlights","category-alumni-updates","tag-affordable-housing","tag-alumni","tag-diversity","tag-geology","tag-housing","tag-housing-crisis","tag-new-york-city","tag-peace-and-conflict-studies","tag-policy","tag-political-science","tag-real-estate"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-3XW","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/07\/affordable_housing_illustration_by_ryan_olbrysh_03.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15248"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15286,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15248\/revisions\/15286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15248"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=15248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Building a Solution<\/h3>\n\n\n\n