Financial crisis impaired the city’s housing market this year, and locally threatened the preservation of affordable housing—an increasingly vexing problem in the diverse neighborhoods of Morningside Heights and Harlem.
According to the 2009 first quarter report of Streeteasy—a Web site that tracks real estate trends—Manhattan has seen the condo resale median price declined to $895K, a 4.7 percent decrease since last quarter and 7.5 percent decline since last year, while co-op resale median prices declined by 11.3 percent compared to last quarter, and 16.7 percent since last year.
In Upper Manhattan, since last quarter, median sales prices declined by 11 percent, and co-op resales median price declined by 21.8 percent—almost twice the borough’s average. In this region, since last quarter, there has also been a 29.1 percent increase in condos that have lowered their prices, which is an 86.6-percent increase since quarter one of 2008.
Beyond the statistics, housing foreclosures have become a major issue citywide after the foreclosure moratorium ended in March. This, combined with fluctuating prices, has posed a threat to apartments with unregulated rents.
In February, city officials considered a permanent ownership amendment to the city’s Inclusionary Housing Program as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to provide housing for 500,000 New York residents by 2014. The proposed amendment, which would protect low- and middle- income families in rental apartments from rising property values, met mixed reviews.
Supporters of the amendment noted the stability it would provide for ethnically and economically diverse communities. Objectors to the amendment noted that the IHP already has incentives like tax breaks for participating housing builders, and over-regulation could hinder this.
The City Council is currently reviewing the amendment, and has 50 days from April 27 to make a decision.
At the state level, New York State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who represents Yonkers, re-introduced legislation in March to protect affordable housing in buildings that participate in the Mitchell-Lama and Section 8 voucher state subsidy programs. The bill would re-regulate rent in buildings that were deregulated after 1974 and no longer subject to rent regulation according to Mitchell-Lama stipulations. This retroactive aspect of the bill would take away the incentive for landlords to try to push out tenants who pay regulated rents.
Locally, buildings such as 3333 Broadway between 135th and 136th streets—which left the Mitchell-Lama program in 2005—would be among those impacted by the Stewart-Cousins bill. The apartment was constructed after 1974, and not rent-regulated. “Coming out of Mitchell-Lama was a big mistake ... There is no government agency to oversee the landlord, no system to make the landlord match the occupancy on the voucher,” Amy Chan, Mitchell-Lama organizer for resident rights advocacy group Tenants & Neighbors, said. 3333 also houses residents with vouchers for the Section 8 state-subsidized housing program.
State assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, whose district includes the Upper West Side, was supposed to co-sponsor the bill for an Assembly Housing Committee hearing on April 23, but because of unarticulated complications, assembly member Gary Pretlow of Westchester will present the bill sometime in the near future.
There are about 46,000 Mitchell-Lama units remaining in the city, according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. According to Tenants & Neighbors, a resident rights advocacy group, there are 100,000 deregulated apartments in the city and one million that are regulated.
If the senate passes the Stewart-Cousins bill, tenants “would be able to continue paying the moderate rents they had been paying while the building was in the Mitchell-Lama program,” the assemblywoman said. “It offers protection so people will not find themselves looking for apartments they cannot afford.”
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