The relationship between the city’s powerful labor unions and the real estate industry has been showing serious signs of strain lately, and one of Brooklyn’s biggest housing organizations says the rift could affect the creation of affordable housing even as it improves wages and, potentially, diversity in the industry. There’s been a spate of stories over the past couple of weeks about how unions want livable wage clauses tied into projects that require rezoning or that benefit from city and state funding—projects, in other words, that often include affordable housing. The head of the Fifth Avenue Committee, which develops and manages affordable housing (the group’s current projects include Atlantic Terrace and the Red Hook Homes), says she supports the idea of using union labor—especially when unions commit to expanding and diversifying membership—but is wary of how it might impact the construction of affordable housing. We support unionization but we wouldn’t want it to negatively impact the number of affordable units being built, says Fifth Avenue Committee Executive Director Michelle de la Uz. De la Uz said the majority of the current government funding structures don’t include enough money to cover union wages for affordable housing and that government would have to commit to increasing funding for affordable housing projects by between 25 and 40 percent to ensure the use of union labor. Ironically, perhaps, the unions are also demanding that all redevelopment projects include affordable housing. Clusterf—!
Unions: Redevelopment Projects Should Have Affordable Housing Guarantees [NYDN]