by
NARR
Bloomberg announced his new plan in Harlem, in a shiny new coop called Lenox Gardens which he cited as an example of what he'd like to see more of. Collen Little Junior is a native of Harlem and he moved into Lenox Gardens as soon as it opened in November of last year. He says he was the first person in the building to get the walls painted and the furniture set up. His house is impressive: he has three different shades of green on the walls, an electric fireplace with fake flames, two forty-two inch plasma televisions, and a granite-top cherry wood bar.
SOT (:21) Collen
In-cue: I've always dreamt of owning property…
Out-cue: …blue collar worker.
NARR
Little Junior is an officer in his 8th year in the service, and he earns over $60,000/year. That's above the New York City Area's Median Income, which is $50,000. But because Little Junior is a native Harlem resident and a police officer, he had two advantages in securing a spot at Lenox Gardens.
SOT (:21) Colen
In-cue: It's a lottery process…
Out- cue: helps, a lot.
NARR
Under Bloomberg's plan, 50% of the units in new affordable housing are reserved for community residents, for example, as well as 10% for police officers and 5% for other municipal workers.
Over the past 25 years, New York City acquired many of its affordable housing properties through tax foreclosure. But that housing stock is used up. The Bloomberg administration says that's why it has decided to focus on building new units, which are largely aimed at middle-class residents. That's a great thing according to Emily Youssouf, President of the New York City Housing Development Corporation.
SOT (:19) Youssof
In-cue: Middle-income housing…
Out-cue: …what makes it New York.
NARR
A lot of the existing units of affordable housing may not be affordable for much longer. That's because they were built when laws gave developers a tax incentive to create more affordable units. But according to Hilary Botein, professor of urban planning at Columbia University,
SOT (:49)
In-cue: What's happening now is that a lot of these units are reaching the end of their regulatory periods
Out-cue: …it's gonna be lot harder to induce developers to keep the apartments affordable.
NARR
That means that tens of thousands of New York residents, especially in hot areas like Harlem, risk losing their affordable apartments. Last month, about 750 NYC tenants and community organizers staged a rally …
AMB (:05): up sound of rally [you will not kick us out]
… It aimed to raise awareness of the fact that many publicly-subsidized housing units risk ending up on the private market.
AMB (:05) [save our homes]
NARR
The people at the rally were particularly worried that many project-based Section 8 contracts are aging out. Project-based section 8 started in the 1970s, with the federal government subsidizing the rent of low-income residents, with the subsidy attached to the housing unit rather than the person. With many project-based subsidy contracts expiring, building owners have the option to withdraw from providing affordable housing. But even though something like Section 8 is a federal project, Hilary Botein says that local governments can do something about the problem.
SOT (:15)
In-cue: If the city government is able to coble together…
Out-cue: …that's the solution.
NARR
Though the Bloomberg plan may be doing a good job with the building of new housing units for New York's middle classes, it may not be doing enough to preserve existing units for the city's poorest residents. This is Giuliana Chamedes, Columbia Radio News.