New York council sues to stop NYCHA’s leasing land to luxury apartment builders
The Council says the authority shouldn’t be in the business of creating more housing for the affluent. But NYCHA officials say the lease money would go directly into developments and repairs for low-income housing residents.
Comments (7)By Greg B. Smith / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, October 10, 2013, 9:43 PM
Marcus Santos/ for the New York Daily News
New York City Housing Authority Chairman John Rhea says leasing land will generate $50 million annually for the agency.
The New York City Council sued Thursday to stop the local housing authority’s plan to lease public land for luxury development.
The Council — joined by housing authority tenants and the Legal Aid Society — contends that New York City Housing Authority should not be in the business of creating more housing for the affluent.
RELATED: BILL DE BLASIO SLAMS NYCHA LEADERS, BLOOMBERG
“NYCHA’s sole purpose is to build and maintain affordable housing — not lease public land to make way for luxury apartments,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.
With three months left in office, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has set in motion a plan to lease land at eight NYCHA Manhattan developments to developers to build 4,300 mostly market-rate apartments that would rent at luxury rates.
RELATED: BLOOMBERG WILL UNVEIL NEW VOLUNTEER NYCHA BOARD
NYCHA Chairman John Rhea says he hopes the rent will generate $50 million a year for the cash-strapped agency and notes that 860 of the apartments would go to lower-income tenants.
But residents at seven of the eight targeted locations have come out against the plan, worried that the influx of high-end apartments would worsen gentrification that’s already driving up costs in their neighborhoods.
RELATED: MAYORAL CANDIDATES VOW TO IGNORE NYCHA LUXURY HOUSING PLAN
Aixa Torres, tenant leader at Smith Houses in lower Manhattan — where NYCHA plans to put up two huge towers on parking lots and basketball courts — welcomed the Council’s lawsuit.
“Hallelujah,” she declared. “They told me they were going to do that and they did it. I’m so glad.”
NYCHA officials said it was “unfortunate” the Council was trying to block a plan that would generate “money that would go directly into developments and repairs for residents.”
The authority’s plan to seek proposals from developers last April was delayed until August after resistance emerged. Proposals are now due Nov. 18.
The suit asks a judge to immediately halt the plan, arguing that the agency has no power to turn over public land “for the purpose of building housing that will be affordable only to high-income individuals.”
The Council — joined by housing authority tenants and the Legal Aid Society — contends that New York City Housing Authority should not be in the business of creating more housing for the affluent.
RELATED: BILL DE BLASIO SLAMS NYCHA LEADERS, BLOOMBERG
“NYCHA’s sole purpose is to build and maintain affordable housing — not lease public land to make way for luxury apartments,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.
Ramin Talaie/Getty Images
Michael Bloomberg, New York's current mayor, backs the NYCHA land-leasing scheme.
NYCHA Chairman John Rhea says he hopes the rent will generate $50 million a year for the cash-strapped agency and notes that 860 of the apartments would go to lower-income tenants.
But residents at seven of the eight targeted locations have come out against the plan, worried that the influx of high-end apartments would worsen gentrification that’s already driving up costs in their neighborhoods.
Jefferson Siegel
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is against NYCHA leasing land to builders of luxe apartments.
Aixa Torres, tenant leader at Smith Houses in lower Manhattan — where NYCHA plans to put up two huge towers on parking lots and basketball courts — welcomed the Council’s lawsuit.
“Hallelujah,” she declared. “They told me they were going to do that and they did it. I’m so glad.”
NYCHA officials said it was “unfortunate” the Council was trying to block a plan that would generate “money that would go directly into developments and repairs for residents.”
The authority’s plan to seek proposals from developers last April was delayed until August after resistance emerged. Proposals are now due Nov. 18.
The suit asks a judge to immediately halt the plan, arguing that the agency has no power to turn over public land “for the purpose of building housing that will be affordable only to high-income individuals.”
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7 Comments
BlackstripesNEW11 minutes ago
Finally! Hopefully this plan will be dismissed and the focus returned to repairing and improving the buildings that sorely need it.
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JboogNEW48 minutes ago
Where is the affordable housing???!!! Thats what NYC needs ,not more condos for yuppies and rich who can care less about the diversity of NYC that makes it the best city on earth...
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Noo YokaNEW3 hours ago
I think it's a pretty terrible idea. Take away the children's playgrounds and basic amenities from the poorest people in America to build for people who can buy anywhere. And for what? If you were well off, would you chose to be surrounded by poor, angry people who hated you for taking from them?
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johnnybiloNEW4 hours ago
Because people in housing projects not only have a right to take up what has become incredibly valuable land in now-desirable neighborhoods, they also have a right to things most people don't have like private gated parking lots. We have to figure how a way to empower people in need not enable dependency. A better fight would be to change the laws around housing projects to one generation and OUT, and to use the money afforded by these developments to teach parents how to break the cycle of poverty and give their kids a better life beyond the projects when they grow up, starting with embracing education and improving diet. And, I say this as someone who lives across from the projects and sends my kids to school with kids from the projects, and it is one story after another of bright kids eating donuts and Sunny D for breakfast and their parents nowhere to be found at any school meeting ever. But, by all means, let's take our eye off the ball and demonize Bloomberg and point the finger at rich people because that's easier than looking at the sickness in your own community that is destroying the future of so many tremendous kids before it even gets started.
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Noo YokaNEW3 hours ago
If you want that, you have to ask why the city made a concerted effort a generation ago to drive out the garment industry, printing, and so many others in favor of FIRE (Financial, Insurance, Real Estate) that employs a narrow swatch of highly-educated people. First you take away the jobs, then you want to toss the unemployed on the street? Where do you think riots come from?
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einnor111NEW8 hours ago
Can't wait til his final day in office. All his back door deals and favors for his rich friends will come out and he and Bernie Madoff are sharing a cell
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Poetic JusticeNEW12 hours ago
Bloomberg's last hurrah giving away space so his friends can build luxury housing to enrich themselves then squeeze the poor out. It that happens then they will find some reason to raze those buildings with some Kafkaesque excuse.
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