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New Buildings Going Up Next to Public Housing
By
Ellen Burke
Published Mar 26, 2010
Modified Mar 26, 2010
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By
Ellen Burke
Published Mar 26, 2010
Modified Mar 26, 2010
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One of the city's efforts to add affordable housing is drawing jeers from residents in city housing. The city has reasoned that some of the areas surrounding public housing—including parking lots and greenspace—have been underutilized, and it's selling the land to developers who will build new affordable housing units. They say the profits will also go to fix up existing properties. But residents in the current buildings say the construction comes at the expense of some of their amenities, including cheap parking and nice views. And while the city's touting the new units as affordable, that might ring hollow to some of the current residents, since the new buildings will in some cases be open to families who make $150K.
According to the Times, one of the areas where tension over the plan is greatest is the Elliott-Chelsea Houses in Chelsea. The city says a developer will pay $4 million for a parking lot residents use. But those spots are obviously a nice perk, and even though the city says they'll get new spaces nearby, some Elliot-Chelsea residents still feel edged out. Long-time resident Karen Hodges says "It's going to be too crowded, and this project is falling down around us."
Developments planned outside the Stapleton Houses on Staten Island and Soundview Houses in the Bronx are causing similar worries. The tenants association president at Soundview says "[the new] people are going to come in and start utilizing what we have, and we don’t have anything.” Still, as Curbed pointed out, it would take the city 2,865 years of parking fees from that one Chelsea lot to make the $4 million it can get from its sale.
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