PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: February 11th, 2012

Contact: Adrian Antonio Paling, or Kendall Jackman, Housing Campaign Leader
Office: 646 314 6423, Cell: (917) 744-5325,
Email: adrian@picturethehomeless.org

Picture the Homeless Members Deliver a Bill to City Council Member Erik Dilan

Brooklyn, N.Y.- To commemorate two full years that City Council Member Erik Dilan has been refusing to grant a hearing to an important housing bill, homeless New Yorkers visited Mr. Dilan’s house and delivered an invoice for doing a city-wide count of vacant buildings and lots. Intro 48, a bill that would empower the City to annually count vacant properties and is currently supported by 29 City Council representatives, has been sitting on Erik Dilan's desk since February 11th, 2010.

Today at 11:00am Picture the Homeless members held a press conference in front of Erik Dilan’s house at 1281 Decatur Street in Brooklyn holding a poster invoice for doing his job.

PTH Housing Campaign Leader Kendall Jackman stated, “In September of 2010, Speaker Christine Quinn was quoted as saying, ‘It would cost millions of dollars’ to implement Intro 48 (Annual Census of Vacant Buildings and Lots), in the Daily News. Picture The Homeless did it with 295 volunteers, coffee, donuts and metrocards. The City has a bigger budget.”

As Chair of the City Council's Housing and Buildings Committee, it is Erik Dilan's job to make sure that bills move forward and are voted on by the full council. Picture the Homeless organized a count of vacant properties over the summer and just recently released a report identifying enough vacant properties in a third of the city to house 199, 981 people.

“You have the report of our most recent vacant property count which proves that there is enough vacant property to shut down the shelter system and to create additional housing to lower the cost of housing for everyone! Do the right thing and calendar Intro 48!” stated PTH Board Member Ryan Gibbs.

The Picture the Homeless report Banking on Vacancy: Homelessness and Real Estate Speculationexposes the potential housing stock that is available in 20 community districts across all five boroughs. PTH argues that vacancy inflates the cost of housing in the city and is a root cause of homelessness. The report is available on the Picture the Homeless website at: http://picturethehomeless.org.

For interviews with PTH members call Adrian Antonio Paling or Kendall Jackman at 646-314-6423. In addition, PTH will be tweeting updates from the press conference. Follow http://twitter.com/pthny and hashtag #NYCvacancysurvey.