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The Forum @ St. Ann’s presented Brooklyn Housing Matters: Tackling Affordability, a public forum on housing issues, initiatives and prospects on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, at 7:00 pm.

The event drew residents of various Brooklyn communities deeply concerned about preserving the uniqueness of their neighborhoods amidst the rapid changes brought about by a hot real estate market and the need to preserve and create affordable housing.

As Brooklyn Brief’s Matthew Taub reported in his article:

“Emotions were raw at an affordable housing forum at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn Heights Tuesday evening. Personal tales were thick with resignation and the panelists, while erudite and empathetic, offered only limited solutions.”

Read the entire article in Brooklyn Brief and as it appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Moderator Cindy Rodriguez, Urban Policy Reporter for WNYC – New York Public Radio led the discussion. Panelists included City Councilmember Stephen Levin, Caitlyn Brazill, VP of Strategic Partnerships of CAMBA, a Brooklyn multiservice nonprofit, and Aaron Koffman, Director of Affordable Housing of the Hudson Companies, a private developer.

[frame_left][/frame_left]Host, the Rev. John E. Denaro, Rector of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, invited the audience to ask questions. Many lined up at the microphone to seek answers and express their experiences and concerns.

The event was part of a series by The Forum @ St. Ann’s, which seeks to engage the community in conversation about the arts, ideas and civic life. The Forum is also presenting an exhibition in the church entitled “Raising the Dead,” on view through July 6. The exhibition includes sculptures by Sandra Osip and paintings by Douglas James. Osip’s arresting works of derelict, graffiti-tagged houses in Detroit are directly related to Brooklyn’s own housing history, which underscored the issues discussed at Brooklyn Housing Matters: Tackling Affordability.

Photos by Matthew Taub View all of Matthew Taub’s forum photos.