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less than 200,000 units in NYC are "housing projects" I just lumped all Federal backed affordable housing units together to get that number.
Truth be told city needs more cuz shortage of affordable housing. Contrary to popular belief not all of them are bad and yes that figure includes the newer luxury 80/20 buildings. Section 8 deemed a failure many not renewed. LITHC a failure too but think will still continue.
In the 1980s, Yonkers NY found a model for public housing that actually works: Smaller clusters of 20 or so nicer, single-family townhouses that people actually enjoy living in.* The idea was that by giving lower-income families more of a sense of ownership and pride over their properties, they would treat them better, would look out for their neighbors more, and would work harder to keep their neighborhoods safe and pleasant. If any residents were found to be involved in criminal activity the nicer housing would be revoked.
Forty years later, the townhouses are still there and they have neither affected the character nor the property values of the neighborhoods they're in. In fact, the people who live there are far happier, their children are more successful, and the net city benefit is that Yonkers is much less segregated now than most U.S. cities.
*(HBO's excellent mini-series "Show Me a Hero" tells the story of the planning of the townhouses and the intense public controversy surrounding them)
Not sure what area of Yonkers you’re referring to, but no later than last week I had to stop by a place right across the street from one of these low-rise housing projects. Not only was it seedy and messed up, but the surrounding area was in shambles.
As with all of these types of programs, they are difficult to get rid of once instituted, so there is a ratcheting effect. Money is withdrawn from the productive economy to fund these programs. This is money that would have been invested in projects with lower rates of return. Public policies also limit the number of new housing units that can be created, affecting the lower end of the market first. A significant population becomes dependent on this housing, and there isn't a good private alternative, since that end of the market has been destroyed.
Last edited by fluttereagle; 08-19-2020 at 10:33 PM..
NYC also has a large middle (and in some cases upper) income housing program: rent stabilization. So we aren't just talking about low-income housing here. Roughly 60% of the NYC housing system is government regulated or funded in one way or another. So the notion of "greedy landlords" being the problem in the NYC housing system is inaccurate, because that is only the 40% squeezed part of the market. On a federal level, the mortgage-interest deduction is a government subsidy for wealthier home owners, who itemize tax deductions. Every level of society has its snout in the government housing trough. To be clear, I don't think government should be involved in housing at all.
Last edited by fluttereagle; 08-19-2020 at 10:35 PM..
There have been two open wounds that never healed in this city.
Housing Projects and the Transit Authority.
The crisis may have created the perfect atmosphere.
As people leave and less travel I say
level the projects and use the rubble to fill the ( hole ) subways.
Start anew.
New two family detached units with plenty of space in between in place of
hi rise building and if you need more room use the existing rail yard space
......and there are miles of them....... for more of the same. Problem solved.
Housing Projects were designed with "good intentions" since there was once a futuristic vision of metropolis being all skyscrapers with green space in between them. See architect Le Corbusier.
In theory and on a model it looks decent but the problem are the folks you are putting in these buildings have no "skin in the game" and many do not care to make their community nicer (I know this is a very broad generalization).
Contractors (ie friends of Robert Moses) made a lot of coin building the crappy housing projects in NYC during the construction boom heyday so there was also another motive for building them.
For instance, Sty Town and Peter Cooper Village are essentially market rate housing projects. They do not have the same crime as the projects in Vinegar Hill or other localities. Its not the architect's fault... it is the resident's fault.
I do like the new school approach where low rise townhouses are built which gives folks more a sense of home ownership and also spreads out people so that crime isn't so concentrated in one spot.
I did like the one comment re: Margret Thatcher and giving title to the apartments to the occupants. However, it kind of defeats the whole concept of welfare/assistance as it is supposed to be a TEMPORARY solution and not a PERMANENT lifestyle.
Housing projects have long outlived their usefulness. In the beginning they were inhabited by working families (indeed there was a working family preference). That was ruled unconstitutional some years ago and many former shelter inhabitants flooded public housing. Also, there were demographic shifts almost overnight (in some cases even driven by court decisions, e.g. what happened with Pomonok) which also added to tensions.
Keep in mind that the way they are run doesn't help things. The city is a notoriously horrible landlord, allowing real issues to fester. People live without heat, gas, etc. and have pest infestations and the city just doesn't care. So, I don't expect people in public housing to treat it well since the city couldn't care less. It's not easy to live in the PJs.
Last edited by shadypinesma; 08-20-2020 at 05:54 AM..
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