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I don't see how mitchell lama home ownership is a total farce, unless you're looking to gain equity and/or make a profit off your purchase at a later date. If that's the case than maybe co-op ownership isn't for you.
If you're looking to make a long term home somewhere in the city, plant your roots, and stick around for a long time, a co-op in general is the way to go... and a Mitchell Lama co-op is as good as gold.
I think now is a better time than ever to start adding yourself to waiting lists, whether they are buildings with perpetually open lists, or the buildings that have been opening their lists via lottery the past few years. As many as you can. The reason being is that a lot of these buildings were built in the 1960s and have a lot of original tenants. A lot of Mitchell Lamas are NORCs with these original residents unfortunately passing away. They're looking for the "next generation" to come in. That's why, since 2012 or so, we have seen a large number of highly desirable buildings open up their wait lists. I never thought East Midtown or York Hill would open up in a million years; now someone I know at York Hill says that older/original residents are passing away literally every month, they're preparing for a ton of vacancies, and expect to cycle through their external 1 bed wait list in 5 years. I think this is happening in a lot of buildings. Look how fast the Penn South list has moved. I moved up almost 200 spots in 9 months on the studio list! If you're familiar with buildings in the program who have closed lists - it's a long shot and a gamble - but it wouldn't hurt to write to their management companies and request to be added to the wait list and/or ask to see if they anticipate the wait list being opened. They just opened Lincoln Amsterdam lottery up (for 4 bedroom apartments though) and I bet in 2017 we'll see some buildings whos list have been closed for a long time do a new lottery. Some developments are huge and stocked with original residents who are passing away, not leaving the apartment to a successor. Nows the time to take advantage! Get on now, make sure you stay in touch with the management company, put it out of your head for a while and one day you'll get that phone call. 5-6 years flies by!
I would much rather apply for and pay the app fee for a handful of mitchell lamas and wait a few years than deal with the 80/20 buildings, but that's just me!
Ownership may be a farce at today's prices, but renting is even worse. If you bought an apartment in Manhattan at the peak in 2007, you're probably way ahead at this point. I bought back in the '90s and it was the smartest move I ever made. It's the only reason I can still stay in the city.
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Originally Posted by Aquarius37
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Some of us prefer to rent. Home ownership is a total farce.
I would STRONGLY recommend the ML co-op over ML rental. The plan of every ML landlord is to take his buildings private ASAP. Rents are quickly raised to market and the bargain rent is no longer a bargain.
A ML coop offers tremendous stability and if the cooperators decide to go public, then they all have a huge potential windfall because THEY own the market valued co-op.
The can $ell or stay.
Not owning enough land is not the problem and the NYC Dep't of Housing Preservation & Development has Urban Renewal Areas that they are currently developing. An example of this is Willet's Point Urban Renewal Area which was approved by the City Council in 2013 and work on the project is just starting now. As per Wikipedia, "Willets Point is currently undergoing a US$4 billion redevelopment project to construct retail and residential buildings in the area...." They have also amended URA's such as Arverne and Edgemere along with others in recent years.
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Originally Posted by BugsyPal
Mitchell-Lama much like other federal housing "projects" only worked when there were large tracts of land easily (and somewhat cheaply) available for development or redevelopment. That is not the case for NYC today, and besides neither the city nor state own enough land for such a project.
One of the main tools that produced both Mitchell-Lama and "project" housing was urban renewal/slum clearance schemes. Both relied heavily upon eminent domain and were responsible for many of the sites where ML and "projects" sit today.
Urban renewal got a very nasty name in the day (famous African American writer James Baldwin called it "negro removal"), because many saw the application of "blighted" as a way to clear out poor but otherwise stable and functioning communities (of color or otherwise), to build new housing.
Developers having seen what happens when getting into bed with NYS or NYC likely wouldn't fall for the exact same ML scheme again without some built in protections in their favor.
As originally designed ML projects were free to come out from under subsidized rents/co-op ownership after 20 years (usually by paying off the underlying mortgages). Politicians then didn't worry about the consequences but things hit the fan one by one places like Rupert Towers (built on the site of a former brewery), paid off their financing and left the program. This turning into market rate housing enraged some sections of local and state government and community "activists". So now all are attempting in various ways to change the rules during the middle of game. Things such as forcing ML units that come out of the scheme to go under RS laws and such.
Only thing is the state isn't stepping in and condemning/taking land from private owners. Rather working with them to provide some measure of affordable housing.
Last edited by fyrisle; 12-05-2016 at 05:06 PM..
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