Posted on July 17, 2015 by Carter Coudriet and Denis Slattery in New York Daily News New York Daily News, By Carter Coudriet and Denis Slattery A group of housing advocates staged a sleep-in to encourage the city to build more affordable housing. About 200 protesters took to the streets Thursday evening to call on Mayor de Blasio to set aside 15,000 residential units for the homeless. The group marched from the First Houses in the East Village down Avenue A to the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, the site of the Essex Crossing Development.