The Yonkers Housing Authority (YHA), which formerly was known as the Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers, is joining forces with The Business Council of Westchester (BCW) and Iona University to take action on climate change. YHA is the second largest municipal housing authority in New York state, led only by New York City”™s Housing Authority.
The project also will involve Groundwork Hudson Valley, a nonprofit based in Yonkers that has already mapped areas of Yonkers that are subject to more heat than other parts of the city and says it has “found a relationship between federal housing segregation of the past century and vulnerability to extreme heat and flooding in Yonkers today.”
Groundwork Hudson Valley has taken a position that excessive pavement and sparse tree canopies increase the risk of flooding and intensify heat island effects. It has been working to use data it has collected to engage with business, government and the community to bring about changes.
The program announced by YHA, BCW and Iona is designed to help bring relief to the city”™s affordable housing residents who have suffered from extreme heat and flooding due to climate change.
“I believe we must do everything we can to ensure that communities like southwest Yonkers that are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis become more sustainable and resilient to climate change,”™”™ Mayor Mike Spano told a news conference at City Hall. Spano said that the city welcomes the new partnership, which he said will help bring relief to the city”™s affordable housing residents.
“Spring planting; we planted 45 trees this year alone just in southwest Yonkers. Fall planting has us putting in another 22 trees with 50 trees coming from NYPA (New York Power Authority) in addition to those 22 trees,” Spano said. “Total so far just in southwest Yonkers ”” 118 trees. That is a great number but certainly much more needs to be done.”
Spano said that improvements to the city”™s parks are making inroads against the heat problem and noted that shade structures have been erected and thousands of new plants have been added in addition to the trees.
“It”™s all about creating less concrete, having more grass and more shade structures in this community,” Spano said. “We must ensure that everyone shares in the prosperity and the enhanced quality of life that we are seeing here in the city of Yonkers and the only way to do that is to do the things we are currently doing.”
Wilson Kimball, president and CEO of YHA, said, “In partnership with New York state and Groundwork Hudson Valley we are already leveraging millions of dollars to address this cause. Now we are adding the brain power of The Business Council of Westchester and Iona”™s Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation to the mix.”
She quoted Groundwork Hudson Valley as having found that the heat island effect in Yonkers creates a two-degrees differential from the east side to the west side with the west side being hotter.
“Higher temperatures means more health risks to the people who live there including higher rates of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), higher rates of asthma, more trips to a hospital,” Kimball said. “It also has been shown to decrease standardized test scores.”
Students from Iona will be out in the field working with residents at various YHA housing sites to identify the impact of the heat island phenomenon and flooding issues and gather relevant data.
Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of BCW, said, “We are always looking to build-out new initiatives that drive economic development well into the future but also that help our businesses and our municipalities and our communities innovate all the time.”
Gordon said that the BCW”™s Westchester Innovation Network”™s “City Labs” program will be used in the climate effort since the program is designed to bring about solutions to pressing urban problems such as climate change and environmental justice. “It”™s big stuff, but it”™s these young people with great leadership and a great university that can bring fresh approaches and a fresh look to some of these challenges,” Gordon said.
“The Hynes Institute empowers students to harness their creativity and solve real world problems,” Iona”™s President Seamus Carey said. “We are thrilled to once again partner with The Business Council of Westchester, and our students are eager to help tackle the important issue of environmental justice in the city of Yonkers.”
