Slowdown in Sales of Affordable Housing
With deep reductions in prices, months of free maintainance, and, in one development, a new flat screen tv tossed in, why are so many units classified as affordable still not moving here in NYC? The Times looks at this problem and comes up with familiar reasons banks are still not lending, and the definition of…
With deep reductions in prices, months of free maintainance, and, in one development, a new flat screen tv tossed in, why are so many units classified as affordable still not moving here in NYC? The Times looks at this problem and comes up with familiar reasons banks are still not lending, and the definition of affordable is not realistic for many buyers. Housing advocates point to the use of the area median income of over $76K, which includes the city, along with Long Island, Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties, in the determination of affordable income limits, which makes most of these projects too much money for too many people in the neighborhoods where these developments are located. A better way to figure it, says housing advocate Javier Valdez, located in Bushwick, would be to figure the limits by neighborhood. The median income in Bushwick is $32,328. In response to this, several projects, including Atlantic Terrace, in Fort Greene, have arranged funding and lowered their limits to accommodate more buyers, and now have 4,881 applicants in a lottery for 59 apartments. Obviously, the demand is there, as is the supply. The balancing act to please all parties will be the key to fulfilling the city’s goals of creating 165,000 units of affordable housing by 2014.
City’s Affordable Housing Program Having Trouble Finding Buyers [NYTimes]
subsidized housing is preferred by the developer cartel as it is a low risk investment. For a RE developer, rent stabilized apartments and subsidized housing is the bond portion of their investment.
Democrats love subsidized housing because it guarantees a voter base. The hundreds of thousands of families living on the public dime will never vote for someone who advocates a market economy.
Affordable Housing??? Please, most of these so-called affordable apartments are really unaffordable housing for most of the middle income people living in the city. The developers rehabilitate these homes at minimum cost, maximize their profit with a relative high asking price and stamp “affordable” on it with the city’s blessing. What a joke!!
What I find the most telling in affordable housing, is the fact that a new affordable housing 2 bedroom still can cost $350K, even if it is in East New York. When you factor in the fact that it’s also usually about 800 square feet and lacking the en suite washer/dryer and “deluxe” finishes of the rest of new condo construction… well, you sort of get a feel for the floor of costs — although considering market rate stuff is going for 425K or so… seems like less of a deal.
affordable, oh please, they are not affordable for the average person.
plus when the other apartments are for rent and they say a certain percent is affordable, thats like saying the rest isnt affordable.
It is all realative. The word affordable sounds great if you are making 70k+ not if you are making 35k+. ust like the work luxury. If you live in a home with a ball breaker slumlord. Running water and privacy are considered a luxary.
yes, the housing lotteries are rigged like so many other things. it’s all fucked up.
Problems with affordable condos – banks still too stringent; band is too narrow, buyers have credit issues, almost all of them, almost all of us all today!
I’m a retired r.e. professional who actually ran one of these lotteries. It was carefully supervised to guard against insiders getting the steal of the century. I can’t say this is always true but the extremely narrow income ranges, often only about 10k mean that many worthy applicants don’t make the grade. These are designed by formula to assure applicants fit into the designated income range but don’t exceed the desired percentage of income going toward housing expense. This very conservative underwriting makes for almost no foreclosure activity and a soundly written development. The problem with some developments is their location. Arverne is especially tough because it takes 90 minutes to get into Manhattan and local services are virtually non existent despite the lovely beach.
i’m with g man on this. proof butterfly boy. let me see your weapons of mass destruction.
you get way too many passes on this site. a couple of families get some lower cost apts and all of a sudden the sky is falling.