What is Causing the Housing Crisis?  Thursday, December 14 Online at 5pm | In Chelsea Community News’ recent coverage of a Q&A-style Town Hall presented by NYS Assemblymember Tony Simone (click here to read it),  we recalled a section in which talk turned to Affordable Housing. “If we don’t take drastic action,” said NYC Council Member Erik Bottcher, “the affordability crisis we’re facing now is going to seem like nothing.” At one point, Bottcher did something rare for an elected official–or anybody, for that matter, given a microphone and a mandate to make sense of any given situation: Ruminating on tenants being driven from Manhattan in droves thanks to skyrocketing rents–and wary of our ability to create affordable housing stock to meet long-term needs, Bottcher shook his head and wondered aloud what, if anything could be done. No quick fix or wildly ambitious new plan was offered, and Bottcher let his sense of dread hang low in the air, as if that day’s contribution to the crisis was simply to cultivate a collective ongoing awareness. Flash forward to Bottcher’s constituent email of December 10, whose opening line is, “The housing crisis poses an existential threat to New York City’s future.” Solutions to that threat, noted Bottcher, may be staring at us from the latest objective academic and empirical research papers about housing costs. “Policymakers have a responsibility to review these research findings carefully,” noted Bottcher. His December 14 Virtual Forum suggests he’s done just that. Joining Bottcher to make sense of those findings will be NYU Furman Center Executive Director Matt Murphy. A Q&A portion of the event allows those who attend to pose their own pointed, even wonkish, questions. To register for the online event, click here. Also see the below flyer for details.