Tuesday, July 10, 2012

City to squeeze people into smaller apartments


From Crains:

The city unveiled a pilot program Monday morning that is geared toward encouraging the creation of smaller apartments in the city.

The program, called adAPT NYC Competition, will kick off with a contest under which the city will issue a request for proposals to find a developer to build a rental building on city-owned land, located at 335 E. 27th St., between First and Second avenues. The key wrinkle in the request for proposals is that the apartments will be significantly smaller than what is currently allowed by existing city housing codes and zoning laws.

Currently, city zoning laws bar the creation of apartments that are smaller than 400 square feet, said City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden at a press conference at the American Institute of Architects' Center for Architecture announcing the pilot.

According to the city, 76% of Manhattan households are made up of one or two people. The city as a whole boasts no less than 1.8 million one- and two-person households, but just 1 million studios and one-bedrooms. Mr. Bloomberg noted that the program will also help to deter people from dividing up apartments illegally.


If you believe that, I have a bridge for sale in Brooklyn.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Small apartments for a tiny Mayor.

Anonymous said...

All of this is a crude compensation for the dismantling of Rent Stabilization during the Pataki/ Bruno era.

To have ruined the only true means of providing affordable apartments as a payback for the landlord's campaign contributions to the NY republicans is a disgrace, and these cubbyhole units are the sick result.

Anonymous said...

he obviously never entered any new two/two's, with six familys that replaced the demolished 60'x 100' private homes that were demolished in Bayside, in the past 10 years.

Anonymous said...

Build public housing units small to have folks incentives to leave public housing instead of the sprawling units they have now. Sell the existing units to private developers to raise money especially in areas like Chelsea and the Upper Eastside to get the most bucks!

Anonymous said...

Two hundred seventy-five square feet is an aprtment that measures 16.5 feet by 16.5 feet.

That's an apartment? Does the 275 square feet include a bathroom? Or will their be a common bathroom on each floor? What abut fire laws?

If you think about it, this is great news for the outer boroughs. How long can a person(s) occupy 275sq. ft. before they go stir crazy?

Anonymous said...

"The planned apartments — slightly larger than a dorm room and half the size of a subway car — are so small, they’re actually CURRENTLY ILLEGAL, since the law requires new apartments to be 400 square feet or larger. But Bloomberg said he’ll propose a change to that law."

Propose..... in other words, its going to happen.

Anonymous said...

Presumably the City will completely ignore the ADA - there is no way these units will be accessible! You'd think they would have learned after the last DoJ smackdown that the ADA is law. What's the difference between not allowing people in wheelchairs to live somewhere and not allowing blacks to live somewhere? -outside of Rev. Al, of course...

Anonymous said...

One step closer to a slum

Anonymous said...

Two hundred seventy-five square (16.5 feet by 16.5 feet) with running water and a toilet is a palace for "south of the borders" or a family of 8 from Bangladesh.
Thats what these new shitboxes are really targeted at.
The mayor is at the end of his term he's getting into the real estate biz. Make no mistake, This was all planned in advance.

Anonymous said...

You voted for him, now you have him.

Anonymous said...

this mayor has togo ,please hury 2013

Joe said...

See the full layout here:
http://gothamist.com/2012/07/09/bloomberg_announces_competition_to.php

That's the same layout as most your Provost and Eagle tour buses from Hemphill brothers.
The drivers seat has been replaced with an umbrella holder and coat closet and the rear room has been cut out.
After a weeks these get very claustrophobic, many artists go nuts and tear them up--I know this for a fact I done band tours.

Anonymous said...

I think this might be the reason behind the Mayor's proposed ban on large sodas.

But seriously, I have long suspected most, if not all, of the crappy hotels built in the Dutch Kills area are really intended to eventually be converted into SRO housing. In fact, maybe the plan is to raze the Queensbridge houses in order to free up all that prime real estate for more luxury condo development. And what better place to stash those former Queensbridge residents than just a few blocks from where they are living now?

Missing Foundation said...

I think you can say that about most of the new housing in LIC and Flushing - a terrible investment because of their cheap construction - units soon to be filled with up to a half dozen tenants each giving $500 for the 'average' rent.

Once the trustafarians find out that raising their kids over brown fields - coupled with the lack of medical facilities - makes for all kinds of nasty problems they will not be able to GIVE those apartments away.

But if you want to see hell, though, just wait until the Vallones cram another 40,000 around the Astoria Houses.

It will be the watch word for an urban nightmare that will ensure NY's place next to the 3rd world slums around Paris and Shanghai.

Right before our eyes Bloomberg is dismantling a hundred years of urban progress with no significant resistance because those that can change this are either 'taking their money and run' (how is the Jersey Shore this summer Mr. V?) or got their heads up their arse watching American Idol.

Gary the Agnostic said...

All a room that size needs is Harpo Marx ordering hard-boiled eggs.

Anonymous said...

The tenements of the future. Nice.

Anonymous said...

http://www.tentmaker.org/poetry/prisonbars.htm

Anonymous said...

Mayor 5' 7" Bloomberg...
a little dick with a giant ego.

His girl friend ain't "putting"
out for anything but his money.

Anonymous said...

I guess it's hard to sell all of those vacant overpriced 1, 2, and 3 bedroom units the real estate pimps are pushing.

I got the answer..
"Alice in Wonderland"...
just swallow the shrinking pill.