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Lawsuit Challenges Bloomberg Plan To Lease Public Housing Land To Luxury Developers

By

Rebecca Fishbein

Published Oct 11, 2013

Modified Oct 11, 2013

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The Alfred E. Smith Houses are located in lower Manhattan. 1,151 apartments would be created in two new residential buildings, replacing 16 Parking Spaces, a Garbage Compactor Yard, and a Paved Baseball Field & Basketball Court

 

NYCHA

By

Rebecca Fishbein

Published Oct 11, 2013

Modified Oct 11, 2013

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And so the Bloomberg backlash continues—the City Council announced this week that they're suing the administration for trying to lease public housing developments' land to private luxury high rise developers.

The New York City Housing Authority [NYCHA] had initially planned to lease land at eight public housing developments in Upper and Lower Manhattan to high-end developers, generating an estimated $50 million-a-year in capital funding. The proposal, which was announced in February, was controversial, with residents voicing concern that they'd lose recreational space. In August, Bloomberg backed down on the plan, more-or-less passing it off to the next mayor to implement if they wished.

Now, though, City Council is taking the extra step, suing to stop the city from going through with the plan at all. "NYCHA’s sole purpose is to build and maintain affordable housing," City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. "Not lease public land to make way for luxury apartments."

NYCHA says most of the land that would be leased is comprised of parking lots, though a number of playgrounds and parks would also be replaced; they also maintain that a number of apartments will be allotted to low-income residents. The Council says it's still not enough. "There’s still a need for more low- and middle-income housing, and that should be the city’s priority," Rosie Mendez, who the head of the Council’s committee on public housing, told the Times.

The City Council, along with a few public housing tenants, filed the suit on Thursday; they allege that state law does not allot housing officials the authority to lease land on public housing to high-income residents. The Housing Authority issued a statement saying, "It’s unfortunate that the City Council is attempting to block a proposal that would generate significant revenue for the New York City Housing Authority — money that would go directly into developments and repairs for resident."

This has been a bad week for the Bloomberg administration all around—on Tuesday, an NY State Supreme Court judge's ruling rendered Bloomberg's long-awaited "Taxi of Tomorrow" plan a no-go.

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public housing

Rebecca Fishbein

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