Inclusionary Housing 80/20 Income

[ShamWow]

Hi, our family just got a letter to interview for what i believe is an Inclusionary Housing apartment. While our 2008 & 2007 income was about $10,000 over the income limits our current income is withing the parameters as my husband recently got a lower paying job in his company due to cutbacks etc. So given our income cut this could not have come at a better time.

From what i have heard the application process is a one time shot and the slightest problem can get you thrown off the list.

So the question is do we go in and explain our situation and try to get the apartment now. Or do we go in an ask them to call us when the next apartment opens up so that we have one years income tax with the qualified income.

Lastly, as my husband is not happy in his current position and will likely be seeking a new job, what will happen if after we move in our income goes outside the eligibility range, do we have to move?

I am trying to be very cautious with the whole situation, are there lawers that specialize in this stuff? And i don't mean a NYC real estate lawer because this is clearly more specialized.

Thanks Guys.

[TenantNet]

Can't comment on your particular application, but Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) is a scam to bring in luxury towers into low and middle-income neighborhoods, and in the process displacing many tenants due to the effects of secondary displacement (gentrification) and weakening of the rent laws.

IZ results in a few so-called "affordable" units, but there is usually a net loss of affordable housing in the broader area. This is a scam intended to benefit landlords and developers while making it seem as if they are promoting affordable housing. Politicians like Christine Quinn and Scott Stringer - and many others - get campaign contributions from landlords and developers for destabilizing neighborhoods.

A growing number of tenant groups are now recognizing IZ as a scam, yet some persist. In some cases they get pork money from politicians (like HCC, completely bought by developers and crooked politicians). Other groups like Housing Here and Now (really Acorn and Working Families Party) and Met Council on Housing --- are associated with the scam.

[freddieM]

hi shamwow.

We ourselves just got approved for an 80/20 apartment. We applied for 4 in the past year and were called for 2 for inteviews. We were disqualified from the first one because we had already earned too much $ during the year. They do look at your past 3 years of taxes and your last 6 weeks of paystubs and they average it out and also look at your year to date. Since it's only June, you might be fine. The one we lost was in october so we had already earned too much and in the previous 6 weeks I had worked a lot of OT. The guy felt really bad when I explained that the OT was an anomaly and I usually didn't earn that much per week but there was nothing he could do because they follow strict formulas.

The most recent one we just did get as the max income level was higher. Took about 11 weeks total. A few interviews and a lot of faxing. Any other questions feel free to PM me...

[Praz]

Anyone happen to know what the Federal body is that (eventually) audits these developers for program compliance?

[westendrod]

What happens if income was confirmed to be in the permitted range on move-in to an 80/20 apartment, but in the indefinite future, income went down (rent never in arrears) or unexpectedly went up, even significantly?

(The rent-stabilized building I live in now was very strict on eligibility for move-in, but allows income to move out of the range, way up or a little down, without fear of losing the unit.)

[TenantNet]

On this or any such discussion, readers must understand that Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) and 80/20 buildings are two different things.

What is known as 80/20 buildings is more accurately described as buildings in the 421(a) program which gives the owner a tax abatement for a period of time, usually the length of the mortgage.

IZ is not a tax abatement; it is a zoning bulk bonus where the owner can build taller and larger buildings in exchange for building or rehabilitating "alleged" affordable housing, either on site or within the same community district. If the alleged affordable housing is new construction and offsite, the developer stands to gain a 400% bonus (over the square footage of the affordable housing), and that is usually neighborhood-killing luxury housing.

This way a building on a 100 foot square lot (10,000 sq. ft.) can get a 40,000 SF bonus depending on how much affordable housing is constructed. Slick developers (the ones who pay off Christine Quinn or Scott Stringer) can double or quadruple that by buying up development rights from adjoining properties. While the footprint is still 10,000, the calculated Floor-Air-Ratio (FAR) could be much higher.

[ronin]

If I may add 80/20 and IZ may be different but they are both scams.

IZ is the bigger scam of the two because it just bulldozes the regulations and laws to prevent overbuilding. But the 80/20 buildings are completely unmonitored, and if you go check a few years later there is no "20" in those 80/20 buildings. Total scam. The LL may lose an abatement if caught, but I doubt they care very much.

(20 refers to the affordable housing element).

[westendrod]

All very helpful. I now confirm that I live in an IZ building with no income-range restrictions after move-in. Thus I can keep it no matter how much my income may increase, as long as it remains my principal residence.

I want to move to an 80/20 building. In a nutshell, if my income should grow to exceed the current (or future) move-in eligibility range, would I have to give up the unit?

[ronin]

I think that depends on the individual lease. Or if the building is statutory- Mitchell Lama, etc. But I'm not sure.