Monday Links

Especially if that little old lady on the Upper West Side no longer exists…but her name is still on the lease.

@cillmylandlord – we’re talking two different things here – The Gowanus Houses were likey set up w/ some sort of lip service towards providing affordable housing for NYC’s working class or poor, w/ some sort of hope that the family’s financial straits would better and lead themselves into larger, more expensive rentals or their own private home, thus freeing that Gowanus apt. for the next needy/working class family on the list. To find, 60 yrs later that the exact same family still lives in the very same apt. would illustrate that somewhere along the line, something went wrong.

Either the Flowers either never progressed economically as a family unit, e.g. no one went on to become a doctor or lawyer or office manager, and found themselves a larger apt. on their own dime or bought themselves and their family a small home somewhere else in the city.

Or someone in the Flowers family did at some point start earning enough to move out of the Gowanus – but they chose not to because their current subsidized rent is too low to pass up. The former is sort of unfortunate, the latter means that they are actively keeping less fortunates out of subsidized housing so that they can build a nest egg.

Finally some little old lady shelling out a $1000 a month for a rent stabilized or controlled Upper West Side apt. that would rent in a heartbeat for $4000 is another can of worms (especially if her 30yo kid still lives w/ her).

I won’t rant but it is worth noting that Ms Flowers has lived in public housing, the same apt. since birth. Her 31 yo old son, who works, is still at home. In the 60 yrs that her family has lived in that apt, has no one thought about moving on?

Is it so wrong to think that another family, as poor or poorer than herself, wouldn’t have relished an opportunity to live in that apt, saving money so that their kids could have a chance ata a better life? Basically, there’s a very good chance that the Flowers family and all of their descendants will live at the Gowanus houses until the sun grows cold. Is that right? Was that the intent when these apts were built – some lucky renters would live here at below market rates until the end of days?

I thought the story about the lady in the Gowanus Houses was refreshing. It was a good story about someone who isn’t one of the usual suspects.

Wow- an amazingly up beat story about how people create decent lives for themselves and of course, there’s always the few who have to project their own negativity onto everyone and everything else.