A study released on May 22 by the Community Service Society of New York reveals that affordable apartments in the city have declined by more than a quarter in the last two decades; specifically, more than 32,300 subsidized apartments have been lost since 1990. So State Senator Liz Krueger introduced “right of first refusal” legislation, which would give Mitchell-Lama and Section 8 tenants first crack at jointly buying their building, should the owners opt out of affordable housing programs when the terms expire. If the tenants can meet the sale price agreed upon by representative value assessors and approved by the New York State Division of Housing & Community Renewal, they are then free to rent or sell their units as they see fit—the building is not necessarily preserved as affordable housing. The current tenants are saved, essentially empowered to become slumlords themselves, and exploit the next crop of tenants. Equal opportunity, yay! Uncomforted, thousands of at-risk tenants, housing advocates and homeless people joined on Friday to form a human chain around Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town in protest of the rising cost of city real estate. The 80-acre property became a representative icon for the issue when it was sold to Tishman Speyer for $5.4 billion last year. “If the current trend continues,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, “we will become a city for the very wealthy only. There will be no place for the poor, or for anything in between.” Luckily, Mayor Bloomberg has announced plans to fund 165,000 units of affordable housing for low- and middle-income New Yorkers, though we’re not quite sure how that corresponds with his proud reference to the city as a high-end, luxury product.
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