Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace Showing Itself
Much of the scaffolding has come down at Atlantic Terrace, the affordable housing project next to the Atlantic Center Mall. Applications to live in the project became available in November, according to the Local. Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace Tops Out [Brownstoner] Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace Gaining Mass [Brownstoner] Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace Lopes Along [Brownstoner]…
Much of the scaffolding has come down at Atlantic Terrace, the affordable housing project next to the Atlantic Center Mall. Applications to live in the project became available in November, according to the Local.
Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace Tops Out [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace Gaining Mass [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace Lopes Along [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace Rising [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: Atlantic Terrace [Brownstoner] GMAP
AY-Area Affordable Housing: Made in the Shade [Brownstoner]
Mixed-Rate Building Next to Atlantic Yards [Brownstoner]
As an AY foe, I like this building and its affordable housing. Will there be those who game the system or have an inside track? Sure. But, dollar-for-dollar, I’d bet this development yields more truly affordable housing for those who actually need it than AY ever will.
Also, at 9 stories, I’d say it fits in pretty well with its immediate neighbors.
Yes, Big Jugs, because this 9-story building is in any way comparable to the high rises proposed for AY.
Hey, I wasn’t endorsing “gaming the system,” just making a distinction between–let’s use Joe’s terms–immoral and dishonest behavior by applicants and Rob’s accusation that the managers of the lotteries are routinely and actively engaged in fraud.
As for the architecture, there is a bittersweet piece of contextual design here. The architects grouped four windows each into “panels” that echo the scale of the clerestory windows in the industrial buildings south of the railyard. Sadly, many of those buildings have been torn down and if Atlantic Yards is built, there will be no connection whatsoever.
Well, I also know someone, a single white girl, little on the book income, lots of connections – she applied to one of those 80/20 developments (mid-town Manhattan) and started packing her things immediately. 6 months later she moved in. When I asked her, how she got in, she said that a friend advised her to apply. And her friend also won a place in the same building. To the mathematically inclined, what are the chances of that coincidence?
Wow, I’m shocked that the brownstoner pessimists haven’t trashed this building.
Or pointed out that it’s out of context with the low-rise neighborhood, as they squawk everytime AY is mentioned.
have a professional acquiantance who works for a not-for-profit and got selected in a housing lottery while her husband was in grad’ school and their income artificially depressed. Gaming the system is one thing, Joe, but that is not what Rob said. Rob said the not-for-profits who manage the lotteries choose people they know or who paid them off. In all of my years in and near government, I have not seen that.
You know what project worries me? Not Atlantic Terrace. 80 Dekalb. The market rate units are for lease but I’ve heard nothing about the 20 percent of the apartments which were to be “affordable.”
Posted by: g man at December 17, 2009 5:41 PM
Still though I understand Rob’s main point that the end result of these things is the public (including individuals who are truly struggling) subsidizing well-paid professionals who applied while still in school or people making significant off the book income. “Gaming the system” is the same type of dishonesty that politicians use when funneling money to friends’ “charitable organizations.” I consider this behavior very immoral, especially when taxes are being raised, services cut, etc. Bottom line, why should the many pay for the few? That means MORE inequality /disparity in living conditions. Isn’t that the opposite of what these types of programs are trying to create?
I have a professional acquiantance who works for a not-for-profit and got selected in a housing lottery while her husband was in grad’ school and their income artificially depressed. Gaming the system is one thing, Joe, but that is not what Rob said. Rob said the not-for-profits who manage the lotteries choose people they know or who paid them off. In all of my years in and near government, I have not seen that.
You know what project worries me? Not Atlantic Terrace. 80 Dekalb. The market rate units are for lease but I’ve heard nothing about the 20 percent of the apartments which were to be “affordable.”
I actually will apply to this one, income restriction permitting. It’s a convenient commute to the mall across the street and has beautiful views of the train yards as well.
Having once run the selection process for a developer I can tell you the random picking of entry envelopes is carefully monitored by independent government officers. These lotteries are for real but candidates have to fit very narrow income windows.
Good luck to all!
Posted by: MarionG at December 17, 2009 5:01 PM
In theory yes, I certainly believe what you’re saying Marion. In practice, I have to side with Rob. Even if the selection process is “fair”, abuses like hiding income from an off the books job or staying there even though you no longer fit the criteria that you did when you were first approved is rampant in all of these subsidized housing developments. The nature of any large bureaucracy encourages abuse.