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Mayor Bloomberg's Housing Proposals

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Mayor Bloomberg's Housing Proposals

Postby consigliere » Wed Dec 11, 2002 1:32 pm

Here's a link to the transcript of "Housing Plan For New York City's 21st Century Neighborhoods" - Remarks By Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, at the New York Housing Conference/National Housing Conference 29th Annual Luncheon, at the Sheraton New York Hotel, on December 10th, 2002.
 
And here's a link to the full report, New Marketplace: Creating Housing for the Next Generation, on the HPD website.
 
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Re: Mayor Bloomberg's Housing Proposals

Postby MikeW » Wed Dec 11, 2002 6:11 pm

With the city and state having multi-gazillion dollar deficits, I wouldn't bet on any of this actually getting done.
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Re: Mayor Bloomberg's Housing Proposals

Postby ciale » Sun Dec 15, 2002 2:33 pm

Thank you for a good morning laugh. Imagining all this new housing being built in a city where unemployment is high and the welfare roster is bursting at the seams. Particularly in the areas Bloomberg cites.

In recent courts, there have been cases where tenants have been forced to find refuge in the city's welfare system. But that obviously doesn't come with a guarantee that this will cure all. The welfare system is outdated. Subsidy payments on rents are, at best antiquated and unrealsitic. And then there's the sad fact that landlords are still able to refuse payments from welfare and continue with evictions.

HPD has proven that they aren't the most trustworthy agency either. Going to http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/data/hpd-online-portal.html and on to the http://167.153.4.71/hpdonline/provide_address.aspx (available at the link at the bottom of the page), a search of registered violations on buildings compared with actual conditions has proven that violations can suddenly disappear. Or, some can remain for extended periods of time and never be addressed.

Yes, it's true that some areas of NYC have been improved. Though improved is a relative term. As renwal takes place, rents increase. As rents increase, the financial burden of tenants increases as well.

I return to my statement concering unemployment. Property taxes have been increased. Question: Does this entice businesses to either remain in NYC or to come to NYC? If not, then where are NYers to work, to pay the increased rents?

Will the welfare system be updated to compensate for the increased rents?

Will the housing laws be adjusted to allow for those who seek help?

Will there be a better way to address the needs of tenants who, through little or not fault of their own lost income in recent years?

Rhetoric is all very well and fine. The words fill empty pages. But the fact is, Bloomberg says he wants to be "loved". So did Eva Peron, Adolph Hitler and the likes. And yes, they were "loved". But to what end?

There is available housing in NYC. And, some might claim that there is affordable housing too. My concern is; what's to be done about maintaining basic shelter for NYers in the short term picture? There is a need for detailed re-evaluation of immediate matters where housing is concerned. And certainly not simply for the high end income earners who most likely don't live in the areas cited in Mr. Bloomberg's address.
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Re: Mayor Bloomberg's Housing Proposals

Postby Cranky Tenant » Sun Dec 15, 2002 7:15 pm

Part of the problem is the term "Affordable Housing" has really become synonymous with housing the homeless or indigent.Not that the poorest New Yorkers shouldn't be entitled to housing but, it tends to overlook housing issues that affect working or middle class New Yorkers.

Very few of these maga plans have really worked. Before building new housing in places like Lower Manhattan why not "finish" Roosevelt Island or Battery Park City? If there isn't a sufficient demand for these existing planned communities, subsidized or not, why would we want to build more?

Even worse, this so called affordable housing is too often treated as a temporary solution, offering reduced rents for a number of years, and then allowing the apartments to go to market rate as in the Mitchel Lama buyouts.

I'm certainly not a city planner or a housing expert but it seems like it would make a lot more sense to keep working class housing within the reach of the working class and stop spending money on maga plans that never reach their highly touted goal.

<small>[ December 15, 2002, 06:24 PM: Message edited by: Cranky Tenant ]</small>
I'm a cranky tenant NOT a cranky lawyer.
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