Real Affordability for All

The affordable housing industry is robbing New York City, according to a local activist group which crashed a developer gala Wednesday at Manhattan’s ritzy Yale Club.

Anti-gentrification coalition Real Affordability for All, whose office is on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill, released a report hours before Wednesday’s event accusing real estate bigwigs of manipulating taxpayer’s dollars, abusing workers, committing wage theft (which it claimed was documented by the New York State Attorney General), and building affordable units that are not, in fact, affordable.

The biggest offender, according to Real Affordability, is Wednesday’s gala host The New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH). Supposedly, according to the report, affordable housing industry projects under the oversight of NYSAFAH have stolen nearly $20,000,000 in wages from workers since 2010.

The money was supposedly stolen in a variety of ways, including paying workers less than promised and paying workers less than the prevailing wage, according to the report. It details various settled and ongoing class action lawsuits about some of the projects, condemns residential rezonings, tells the stories of abused workers, and graphs rent increases in affordable NYSAFAH units.

The event Wednesday night, NYSAFAH’s annual gala, featured awards for affordable housing. In Brooklyn, Elton Gateway II won downstate project of the year.

In addition to the report, Real Affordability for All released a parody of the NYSAFAH’s awards roster:

Auringer Companies will win Best Supporting Actor in a City Subsidized Project for bringing worker mistreatment to new lows

L+M Development will win Best Original Screenplay for “affordable” housing that displaces residents.

BRP Development will win Lifetime Achievement in Profiteering for pocketing millions in public subsidies.

Mountco Construction will win Original Song and Dance for trying to hide the exploitation of workers.

MDG Design + Construction will win (Dis)honorable Mention for rampant wage theft at their jobs sites.

NYSAFAH, however, is not amused. President and CEO Jolie Milstein sent Brownstoner this statement:

The construction unions who fund Real Affordability for All should fire their researcher. This document lacks the basic fundamentals one would expect from a credible report, such as a methodology and a real explanation of the survey sample and whether it was statistically significant.

This is the second such erroneous report from RAFA in the past few months. It would appear that this group is being used by the construction unions as a voice for their campaign for an inflated prevailing wage that would raise construction costs and prevent thousands of affordable units from ever being built.

Unlike RAFA, NYSAFAH is not interested in engaging in political posturing. We remain focused on how the city can build more safe, quality affordable housing for hardworking families and vulnerable populations.

“By way of background,” NYSAFAH’s public relations representative wrote us, “I would strongly suggest you pay particular attention to the footnotes (many of which do not actually support their statements) and the math (which in many cases does not add up).”

[Photo: via Real Affordability for All]

Related Stories
Brooklyn Group Says Gentrification Violates Human Rights
Gentrification Rally Disrupts City Hall Meeting
East New York Affordable Housing Complex Gateway Elton Wins Award for Excellence


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. The irony is the construction unions who created this fake activist group, “Real Affordability for All,” are actually one of the biggest factors making building affordable housing impractical with their bloated cost infrastructure.

  2. The irony is the construction unions who created this fake activist group, “Real Affordability for All,” are actually one of the biggest factors making building affordable housing impractical with their bloated cost infrastructure.

1 2