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August 28, 2009

Rents Set to Almost Double at ENY Mitchell-Lama

linden_082809.jpgMany tenants at an East New York housing complex have been evicted or forced to move because their rents have gone through the roof, reports the Daily News. Rents at Linden Plaza, a five-building Mitchell-Lama development with 319 residential units, have gone up by $300 so far in the past year or so, and will increase again next year so that the price for a one-bedroom will have gone from $664 to $1,132. The increases are paying for a capital improvements program at the complex. Some of the disgruntled tenants were counting on Section 8 vouchers to cover the increase but claim that bureaucratic delays thwarted them. Bob Vaccarello, president of RY Management, which oversees Linden Plaza, said that "anybody who was eligible did get a voucher," adding that some tenants simply missed deadlines or failed to provide enough information. A city spokesman said that the rents are lower than what residents would pay if the owners left the Mitchell-Lama subsidy program, but this is a cold comfort to some. The Daily News spoke with tenant Carol Thompson, 53, who lost her job last year and has received no word regarding her voucher application. She has borrowed money from relatives to make rent, but doesn't know what to do in the long term. "I just can't afford it," she said. "They're sucking people dry." GMAP P*Shark
Rent Hike Shocks Tenants [NY Daily News]
Image from PropertyShark




Posted by jscheff at 10:00 AM | Comments (21)
Categories: Affordable Housing, East New York

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Comments

NO offense to ENY but you can live in a much nicer neighborhood for $1,132 for a one-bedroom.

This is a classic example of when the gov't. gets involved in real estate, they usually screw it up. This sounds insane and should not be happening to these people in this environment.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 28, 2009 10:19 AM

"A city spokesman said that the rents are lower than what residents would pay if the owners left the Mitchell-Lama subsidy program, but this is a cold comfort to some."

I hate smarmy statements like this. No duh, and it costs more to live on Park Ave in Manhattan, than Park Ave in Brooklyn, too. So what?

The working class people who qualified for and got into Mitchell-Lama housing shouldn't have to balance the books of the complex on their backs. The program has aways subsidized middle class housing. Management must have known the place needs major upgrades for years. A slow increase in rents would have been much more acceptable to most people. These are the people who are first cut in offices, municipal gov't, and manufacturing. Now is not the time to do this.

Although, since most Mitchell-Lama owners are trying to get out of the program, and go market rate, especially those in Manhattan, I'm not surprised they come up with things like, we sent out notices, but people didn't pay attention, so it's not our fault.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at August 28, 2009 10:36 AM

I'm wondering how these rents are supposed to be affordable to working poor? Those rent increases are insane and the management company knows it. Now people are getting thrown out? Its outrageous.

Posted by: bxgrl at August 28, 2009 10:36 AM

Anyone have a view on the validity of the capital improvements? The rent hikes do seem suspiciously extreme.
I wish the tenants well & hope they are able to stay in their homes or find better alterntives.

Posted by: etson at August 28, 2009 10:41 AM

93%? You don't get that kind of increase in a market rate luxury building. That comment by the city official shows yet again how out of touch the administration is. At 1132$ a month for a 1 bedroom in ENY they better have granite countertops and top of the line appliances. But I'll bet they have old formica (chipped and peeling) and a 25 year old fridge from Sears.

Posted by: bxgrl at August 28, 2009 10:42 AM

who would pay $1100 for a 1-bedroom in east new york?

Posted by: stringer bell at August 28, 2009 10:58 AM

They probably held off on rent hikes (and improvements) when they were trying to sell the entire complex for a profit. Now that they can't, they're trying to make it profitable in a way that will only backfire, because, yeah, there are nicer apartments available at that price range and people that could afford the old rents and who were stable tenants may be forced to move.

Posted by: Heather at August 28, 2009 10:59 AM

Oh wait, never mind I was thinking this was Starrett City.

Posted by: Heather at August 28, 2009 11:00 AM

Like it's any different in the private sector.

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at August 28, 2009 11:07 AM

There needs to be better outreach and communications regarding vouchers. This is something that the respective councilmember should have been on top of and assisting with long before people were facing eviction. There is a lot of fear and misinformation with regard to the application for vouchers.

At one ML building in Mahattan, some skeevy community lawyer was telling people not to fill out vouchers -- and they got screwed. It really is a shame.

Posted by: BH76 at August 28, 2009 11:09 AM

I totally agree...how can these capital improvements be so punitively priced? There is something going on here, or I would hate to imagine this is some kind of extreme incompetence.

Posted by: infinitejester at August 28, 2009 11:09 AM

What is truly outrageous is that we are now paying (through the section 8 vouchers) for above market rents in East New York. The owners of those heavily subsidized complexes and local politicians are in cahoots, on the back of both the working poor and the taxpayers. The owners are making out like bandits, charging $1,132 for a 1 br in ENY.

Posted by: Maly at August 28, 2009 11:14 AM

What a mess - there needs to be a moratorium on rent hikes until everyone has had a chance to apply for section 8 (now that they have people's attention..)

Posted by: dittoburg at August 28, 2009 11:26 AM


"NO offense to ENY but you can live in a much nicer neighborhood for $1,132 for a one-bedroom."

No offense taken. I'd agree. That's too much money for this location. But does give you an idea of how competitive the NY real estate market is. I'd bet that regardless of the inflated rents, they will find some folks who pay this price, particularly if capital improvements are made.

FYI, this place is only a few blocks from "The Hole" neighborhood profiled earlier this week.

Posted by: East New York at August 28, 2009 11:33 AM

Actually I would like to see some serious auditing of the books, to answer whether they are abusing the Section 8 scheme.

Posted by: Maly at August 28, 2009 11:38 AM

"Actually I would like to see some serious auditing of the books, to answer whether they are abusing the Section 8 scheme."

Just out of curiosity who would do this? The comptroller's office?

Posted by: infinitejester at August 28, 2009 11:52 AM

Mr B, can you fix the typo in the title (Hason) to make sure this article is searchable later on? thanks.

Posted by: iz at August 28, 2009 12:01 PM

Section 8 is a Federal program, so HUD is in charge. I just googled HUD fraud, and there is an e-mail address: hotline@hudoig.gov. They are in charge of investigating tenant and owner fraud.

Posted by: Maly at August 28, 2009 12:10 PM

that rent hike would mean that someone would be paying the same rent for a 1bdr in East New York that I paid 2 years ago for a 1bdr two blocks from Columbia.

also, it is absolutely outrageous that at a time when rents are going down around the city, affordable middle-class housing is still disappearing.

Posted by: perhaps at August 28, 2009 12:37 PM

I always find these threads amusing. So many people claim to care for the poor, working class, etc. and pontificate about what landlords and property owners should do, but these same people, many of whom own property themselves, surely rent units in their buildings at the market rate and would never accept a section 8 voucher. Do as I say and not...

Posted by: Big Jugs at August 29, 2009 7:25 AM

I hope anyone who is thinking about voting New York's Emporer Bloomberg back into office remembers his callous treatment of the middleclass. Koch permitted the real estate interests to have their way in the 70's and Bloomberg has permitted the same thing during his reign.

Posted by: ONEWHOKNOWS27 at October 2, 2009 5:45 PM

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