I have a friend in a mitchell lama place

[persephone]

And he's pretty convinced he'll be out of a place by next summer. What is the situation with Mitchell Lama? Can people still apply for those apartments or are they becoming a thing of the past in favor of high rise high cost towers for the rich?

[Cranky Tenant]

If you're interested in applying for an apartment you should check to see whether or not they're acceptiong applications. Some will put you on the waiting list immediately and could have an apartment for you within months, orhers have a ten year waiting list, or have closed the list entirely.

There are usually specific income and family composition guidelines for one, two, and three bedroom apartments

Obviously there's no guarantee you'd be able to get your friend's apartment even if you do qualify. Many of these buildings also have internal waiting lists that give priority to people already living in the building.

[persephone]

I think my question is: are mitchell lama's becoming a thing of the past? Will my friend lose his place? Can they kick him out or annoy him in hopes he'll move out so they can charge more rent to the next person? He claims if he stays they're going to kick up his rent several hundred dollars...can ML do that? can he fight it?

[Anna]

You never explained why your friend believes the rent will increase: did his imcome increase dramatically? or is the bldg opting out of the ML program?

The ML is controlled by either HPD or DHCR: the rules are posted on their websites: http://nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/for-apartment-seekers/mitchell-lama.html or http://dhcr.state.ny.us/ohm/ohm.htm

Contact your community board and/or NYC council member's office: their housing specialists should be familiar with his bldg. Or try the Mitchell-Lama Residents Coalition, a city-wide ML tenants association; see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/26/realestate/26RENT.html