Affordable housing is a major issue in many parts of the country, none less than New York and California. City officials, however, are hindering the road to affordable housing in New York.
While they claim they want to improve the housing situation, they seem to only do so when it’s convenient for them, or so outlines a blog by Bryan Smith for Daily News.
The City Council rejected a plan on Tuesday for a northern Manhattan apartment building where rents for half of its 355 units would have been in the affordable range for the working and middle class, the blog states.
While the plan is widely lauded, Council members balk at construction in their communities.
The committee vote killed a project slated for Inwood, which is represented by Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, usually a loyal de Blasio ally.
Rodriguez bowed to an uproar by constituents who are convinced — in a Bizarro World interpretation of the laws of supply and demand — that new apartments would hasten displacement of longtime tenants.
Because other council members defer to the desire of their local colleague, in theory, every council member has veto power over new construction that inconveniences them, leaving New York without affordable housing, the blog states.
And New York isn’t the only place having trouble. Federal housing authorities recently struck down new affordable housing legislation on San Francisco when it didn’t meet HUD requirements.
Read more about that here.
