Picture the Homeless Renews Demands for City Survey of Empty Real Estate

Dilan

About two years ago, Picture the Homeless tried to get the City Council to make a yearly inventory of the New York's vacant properties -- asking Councilman Eric Dilan, housing and buildings committee chair, to give the group's proposal a hearing.

The City Council refused, with one member reportedly saying that "it would cost millions of dollars" to conduct an annual census.

Picture the Homeless, however, did its own study -- and found that it only cost $150,000 to analyze 1/3 of New York.

The conclusion: There are more empty buildings and lots than there are homeless people -- and more than enough property to give every New Yorker a place to live.

Armed with stats -- and cost-analyses -- Picture the Homeless will again ask Dilan to grant a hearing to the housing measure.

The group also wants the City to develop more affordable housing, and says that there's room enough to house almost 200,000 people.

The non-profit plans on sticking Dilan with the bill -- the group will ask him publicly on Saturday to pay for "doing his job at a substantially lower cost than public officials estimated."

Ouch.

Runnin' Scared has reached out to Dilan's office to see whether he'll grant the measure, Intro 48, a hearing. We'll update if we hear back.

Follow Victoria Bekiempis @vicbekiempis.