Mark Winston Griffith
Affordable Housing threatened in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village?
As homeowners in the outer boroughs dive for cover while the foreclosure crises rips through working class neighborhoods, an enclave of the few surviving middle class apartment dwellers in Manhattan is also feeling threatened.
The New York Times yesterday reported that tenants from the mostly rent-regulated Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan are complaining of harassment from their landlord, and may be witnessing the early stages of the eventual conversion of these building complexes to mostly market-priced housing.
If true, this would validate the initial fear that accompanied Met Life's sale of Stuyvesant/Cooper to Tishman Speyers in 2006, which was that any buyer other than a non-profit developer would chase away all the rent-stabilized apartment dwellers in order to maximize profits, thus rolling back Stuyvesant/Cooper's original mandate to provide affordable housing to New York's working class and civil servants.
Specifically, Tishman Speyers has been accused of being highly aggressive in accusing hundreds of tenants of not using their rent-regulated apartments as their primary residence. Tishman Speyers has withheld lease renewals and challenged the tenants to prove their primary residency through expensive legal means. While Tishman Speyers says that it is simply trying to identify those who are illegally renting their apartments, some tenants and housing advocates suspect more sinister intentions.
Moving forward, it would behoove New Yorkers to pay close attention to Tishman Speyers' management practices. As Stuyvesant/Cooper goes, so may go affordable housing in New York
Mark Winston Griffith: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 8:56 AM, May 28, 2008 in Housing
Permalink | Email to Friend | Comments (3)
Comments
It seems to me that the fundamental problem here is that affordable housing and a profit driven market don't really lay well together. I don't need an MBA to know that high rents are more profitable than low ones.
Will "affordable" housing built under the current 80/20 regulations be any more reliable a source of housing over time?
What do you think the city could or should be doing (or is it not the city that should act?) to ensure that middle class New Yorkers can plan on having a place they can afford to live in for the long term?
Posted by: Amanda Hickman | May 28, 2008 12:04 PM
They feel entitled to it when they're really not. It seems to me that they are just stealing that housing subsity from honest families that really the help. Tishman's lawyers forced out / evicted a 10-year or 15-year illegal resident in 2, Lyn Monteith (Marilyn Monteith), who settles medical malpractice claims for an insurance company in the city and lives out on long island. People like that with multiple residences get paid really well and can afford to pay the market rent if they really want places in the city for convenience. She and the rest of the illegals should just be ashamed of themselves to even take public housing assistance. It's only right that they get forced out.
Posted by: anonymous | September 24, 2008 02:08 PM
I KNOW PLENTY OF PEOPLE IN STUYTOWN WHO DON'T NEED PUBLIC HOUSING - FOR 25++ YEARS. BUT IT SURE BEATS PAYING MARKET RATES. TISHMAN HAS THE RIGHT TO DO THEIR DUE DILIGENCE; AND THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO EVICT LYING CHEATING HOMEOWNERS. MANY OF THESE APTS ARE RENTED OUT - SUBLETTED - ILLEGALLY AND NEED TO BE CLEARED OUT AND MADE AVAILABLE FOR EITHER FREE MARKET ENTERPRISE OR SUBSIDIZED PUBLIC HOUSING. BUT THE SQUATTERS IN THERE TODAY WHO DON'T BELONG SHOULD BE FORCED TO GIVE UP THEIR LEASES AS THEY HAVE VIOLATED THE RULES FOR TOO LONG AND HURT THE GENERAL PUBLIC WHO NEEDED THESE HOMES TO LEGITIMATELY. WHEN PEOPLE ABUSE THE SYSTEM, THE LITTLE GUY PAYS AND THE LITTLE GUY IS NOT THE MIDDLE/UPPER MIDDLE CLASS COLLEGE EDUCATED CHEAPSKATE - IT'S THE BLUE COLLAR, SERVICE INDUSTRY GAL/GUY WHO TRULY DESERVE THOSE APTS FOR THEIR FAMILIES AND THEMSELVES. IF I WERE TISHMAN, AND I WISH I HAD HIS MONEY, I'D SAY 'SHOW ME THE MONEY' GIVE ME YOUR TAX RETURNS FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS AND LETS SEE IF YOU REALLY CLAIM THIS AS YOUR PRIMARY RESIDENCE AND HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE MADE. IT'S TIME THESE PEOPLE UPPED AND LEFT AND PAID THE SAME RENTS THAT THE REST OF US HAVE BEEN FORCED TO PAY IN NYC. JUST BECUASE WE DIDN'T HAVE A FAMILY 'INHERITANCE' W/ A STUY TOWN/COOPER VILLAGE APT BEQUEATHED UPON US. GENERATIONS OF FAMILIES HAVE BEEN PASSING THESE APTS DOWN FROM ONE FAMILY TO THE NEXT - MET LIFE TURNED A BLIND EYE ON IT AS IT WOULD BE AN INSURANCE AND LEGAL NIGHTMARE THEY DIDN'T WANT TO DEAL W/- BUT GOOD LUCK TO TISHMAN - I SAY, DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. YOU OWN THE BLDGS NOW.
Posted by: JONAH WALES | October 9, 2008 05:58 AM