Harlemites Want Affordable Housing, Farmers Markets & More: New Survey

HARLEM, NY — Harlem residents believe affordable housing will do more to improve public safety than adding more police, according to a first-of-its-kind survey whose results were released this week.

The NYC Speaks poll — said to be the city's largest-ever civic policy survey — was conducted across the five boroughs earlier this year, asking more than 62,000 New Yorkers for their opinions on a wide range of issues, from the economy to racial equity to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results, published Tuesday, can be broken down by ZIP code, revealing residents' preferences in specific neighborhoods like Harlem. Across Harlem's eight ZIP codes, 2,339 people filled out the NYC Speaks survey, which was promoted by local nonprofits, door-knocking campaigns and more.

Patch broke down the Harlem results and picked out the most interesting findings.

Affordable housing, not more police

Asked to choose the top three policy solutions that would "make your neighborhood safer," about 51 percent of Harlemites selected "build more affordable housing and reduce homelessness." That same answer was the top choice citywide, albeit by a smaller margin.

Harlemites' second and third-most common choices were "Sending mental health responders to a mental health crisis in lieu of police," and "More services for previously incarcerated or at risk New Yorkers."

Increasing the overall number and presence of police officers was a distant sixth in Harlem, compared to third citywide.

Racial justice

A separate question asked residents how the city should "improve trust in the criminal legal system among New Yorkers of color."

In Harlem, the most-chosen answer was to "increase accountability for police misconduct," selected by about two-thirds of residents. Police accountability was also the most popular answer citywide, at about 59 percent.

A bigger divide between Harlem and the rest of the city emerges in another question, which asked whether New York City should find a way to pay reparations to the descendants of Africans enslaved in the U.S.

About 55 percent of Harlem residents said they either agreed or strongly agreed that the city should pay reparations — higher than the citywide figure of 42 percent.

Ensuring affordable housing

When asked which policies would help ensure "safe, quality, and affordable housing," about 48 percent of Harlem respondents chose "Rent stabilization," followed closely by "Enforce building code violations to ensure safe conditions."

Those results are roughly the same as the citywide answers to the same question.

Farmers markets emerge as a favorite

In two separate questions, Harlemites showed a desire for more farmers markets to open in the neighborhood.

One question asked what health services residents wanted to see more of, with about half of Harlem respondents choosing "Grocery stores and farmers markets."

Another question that asked specifically about access to healthy foods again yielded "More farmers markets" as the top choice in Harlem, followed by improving healthy food access in public schools. (Citywide respondents picked the same two policies.)

Safety on public transit

When asked which policies would "help you move around the city better," the biggest chunk of Harlemites (43 percent) selected "Feeling safer riding transit," followed by "Better maintained transit" (40 percent).

While those top two choices match the citywide picks, the third option reveals a difference: about 30 percent of Harlemites picked "less expensive fares," which was different than the citywide third choice of "Shorter wait times at my transit stop."

Mask mandates, hybrid work favored

When it came to the COVID-19 pandemic, about 46 percent of Harlemites chose both "Hybrid work models to enable remote work" and "Indoor mask requirements" as their preferred means of containing the virus. Similar percentage of citywide residents picked the same policies.

Vaccine mandates were marginally less popular in Harlem: 43 percent favor a vaccine mandate to work in public buildings.

Vaccine mandates to participate in events or to enter public spaces were supported by 41 and 38 percent of Harlem respondents, respectively.

The NYC Speaks survey is the result of a $2.1 million effort funded by Adams administration allies such as cryptocurrency mogul Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Gives and the Robin Hood and Ford foundations, according to the organization's website and a Bloomberg News report.

The 27-question survey — which included topics such as housing, gender justice and education — focused on New Yorkers in 33 neighborhoods in an effort to reach Black and brown, low-income and NYCHA communities, organizers said.

"The goal of this survey was to amplify the voices of New Yorkers on issues that impact them most directly," the survey website reads. "Especially New Yorkers typically excluded from government decision-making."

Dr. Shango Blake, NYC Speaks' executive director, told Patch that housing rose to the forefront of many New Yorkers' responses.

"What was surprising was how many New Yorkers said housing was a critically important part to improving public safety," Blake said. "It kept on showing up in other areas; housing became a big cornerstone to what is an issue here."

Related coverage: NYC's Safety Priority Should Be Affordable Housing, Not Cops: Survey