Feds and City Team Up on Affordable Housing
November 23, 2005, NY Daily News — The city and the feds have agreed to restore up to 360 homes in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx and resell them as affordable housing, officials announced yesterday. In partnership with nonprofit organizations, the city will buy homes owned by the Federal Housing Administration, rehabilitate them and sell…
November 23, 2005, NY Daily News — The city and the feds have agreed to restore up to 360 homes in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx and resell them as affordable housing, officials announced yesterday. In partnership with nonprofit organizations, the city will buy homes owned by the Federal Housing Administration, rehabilitate them and sell them by lottery to eligible buyers, Mayor Bloomberg and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson said at a press conference in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. To be eligible, a family of four, for example, must earn no more than $72,000.
City’s Housing Help [NY Daily News]
Affordable Housing for Fed-Owned Land [Crain’s]
JoshK, no one is pretending that we are getting affordable housing for free. Obviously that will require a lot of public money, and many of us won’t qualify for this affordable housing and we won’t directly benefit from it. But as Anon 10:26AM said, I don’t expect to personally use all services my tax monay pays for, and that’s not a problem for me. I don’t use schools and affordable housing, but I’m glad I’m paying for those services, and that people who need them benefit from my tax money. I’m not that happy about my money funding an illegal war and organized torture, but that’s another story.
And by the way, I disagree with some of your opinions, but I don’t say that it is “stupid republican nonsense”. I think we would all like to have a civilized and respectful debate. I expect better from you, as a politician and public administrator.
A little socialist nonsense seems a bit more rational than your ‘free-market will fix everything’ B.S.
Yet I do agree that many of our affordable programs give a really great benefit to the lucky
few – gives some good press- but does little to alleviate shortage of low-cost housing.
The 80-20 program is a big one in NYC. Quite a few new delux bldgs. have 20% reserved for the ‘winners of lottery’ – aka low income. I doubt many are going to poor working families – instead subsidizing many fairly well-educated singles in expensive nabes who choose professions that where salary is low (arts/non-profits,etc).
Gov’t gives up tax revenue and subsidizes developers mortgages.
We’re with JoshK on this one. It’s similar to the argument against rent control. Why should a few people win the jackpot at the expense of another small group (landlords)? If we as a society deem it worthwhile to subsidize housing for certain segments of the population, great. But the benefits should be spread out fairly and the burden borne fairly, i.e. through some kind of “rent stamps”.
Actually, looking at the article, it seems like the diversity argument doesn’t obtain here either, since the homes are mainly in not-very-gentrified neighborhoods.
Not JoshK here, but one thing that would spread the benefit more evenly would be a tax credit of some type for low-income people. I don’t think the free market can solve all housing problems. But under a plan like this, some genuinely needy people hit the jackpot and benefit a lot. Other genuinely needy people get nothing — and even help subsidize the benefits of the other needy through their taxes.
I certainly don’t think the money should benefit “everyone” — society should use tax money to help the needy — but the system should try to benefit all the needy instead of a lucky few.
I understand the reasoning behind the system, preserving economic diversity in an area, etc. But I were a low-income family that got nothing, it wouldn’t make me feel any better that some other poor family got a windfall and was helping preserve diversity among their rich neighbors on my behalf. I’d rather have the check.
Hey JoshK! Would you like some cheese with that whine.
There are plenty of things my taxes go to that I don’t personally use. Public schools & senior citizens centers come immediately to mind. I like having my taxes used for a greater good.
JoshK, how would you use the funds? What would be “something that benefits everyone”? How would you address the lack of affordable housing in this city? On your website, I see that you would like to “open the housing market so that developers can create the new housing that is needed”. But what we need the most now is reasonably priced housing for low and middle income people (i.e. the majority of New Yorkers), and most developers don’t seem too interested to invest in that type of housing. Please explain how your strategy would work.
Republican JoshK preaching (again!) his mantra that the free markt will solve all of our problems automaticly………
Good. Finally people from the areas will be able to afford a place to live and won’t have to leave the places they grew up in thanks to gentrification. It’s also nice that the city is not just taking the easy way out and building crappy projects.