Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Bill introduced to increase units set aside for homeless


From the NY Times:

Rafael Salamanca Jr., a councilman from the Bronx, will introduce legislation on Wednesday that will mandate that any rental housing project that receives taxpayer subsidies — such as tax abatements, loans, tax credits or reduced-cost land — has to set aside 15 percent of its created or preserved units for people living in the city’s shelter system.

Mr. de Blasio’s current housing policy, Housing New York 2.0, calls for 5 percent of the 300,000 units to be set aside for the homeless, a total of 15,000 apartments. The mayor has said he is strongly against increasing the 5 percent set-aside.

But Mr. Salamanca’s bill has the support of the City Council speaker, Corey Johnson — an important sign that the legislation will be seriously considered by the 51-member body.

“I don’t want to send a message that the only folks who can get affordable housing are folks who end up in shelter. I think that’s wrong for everyone,” Mr. de Blasio said.

Increasing the minimum amount of housing for the homeless would also make it more difficult to finance affordable housing projects. In order to make affordable buildings financially sustainable, there has to be the right mix of people from all incomes, city officials said.

18 comments:

JQ LLC said...

Glad to see that video used for the post. Where the mayor tells that woman he can't talk to her because he's "working out", but he gets caught in the middle of texting on his blackberry. Showing that he is still communicating with and doing favors for certain people with the "right amount of income" who donated to his and their neoliberal agenda.

As for the "right amount of income" to make affordable housing possible, that's clearly a load of shit, because there are reports that those who make the right amount either don't qualify for the apartments or actually reject them for being too much.

Bet one of those city officials is Goldman Sachs Deputy Mayor for housing Alicia Glen.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely ridiculous. If I was a renter, paying the exorbitant NYC rents, I would most definitely NOT live in any building that sets aside units or floors or anything for homeless. Good luck with that one!

Anonymous said...

By the way, notice how there's hardly anyone in that gym in the video?? Hmmmm might be since at that time the rest of us are schelpping to work or already at work, and then there's deBozo, well, enough said there..,

Anonymous said...

Increase units for homeless people? Why dont you just send them back to their OWN state of origins or countries of origins? Really? This is ridiculous. We already pay 125 bucks per day to pay for them to sit up in hotels. The taxpayers sure cant win in NYC can they?

Anonymous said...

Will the taxpayers pay the homeless rentals, or will the landlord has to absorb the cost?

Anonymous said...

Units specifically for the homeless, in my experience, are studios: essentially, SRO set-asides. We need public housing! with an ownership mechanism... say, Section 263 or something akin to Electchester or Amalgamated...

Anonymous said...

NYC is becoming a city of wall-to-wall homeless shelters, with a few bits of housing here and there to house the cash cows--the taxpayers--who labor all day to support the freeloaders, goldbricks, and illegal criminal invaders so beloved of DumblASSio and Cuomo for one thing, and one thing only--their proclivity to vote D. These progressive asses want average NYers to live cheek and jowl with unwashed, unvaccinated, often mentally ill and/or drug addicted creeps and further be victimized by them in terms of crime, discarding trash and needles on the street, molesting schoolkids, and trashing their provided housing. No wonder those who can are leaving NYC and NY in general.

Anonymous said...

Send the homeless back to Iowa, Florida, Colorado, etc. Let their state governments take care of them. New Yorkers are already taxed to the max. We have trouble taking care of our own families and paying exhorbitant rents. It's time to rescind the "Right to Shelter Law." Homeless people stay in the system for years and years. Time to limit the amount of time they can live for free and set up programs to turn them into productive working citizens.

Anonymous said...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/10/30/jobs-62-percent-fall-short-middle-class-standard-us/1809629002/

I think this article sums up what's happening - unfortunately we will see more people fall into low income or homelessness if the trend continues. We can't say it's just convicts, drug users, and alcoholics that are becoming homeless. The cost of housing is rapidly growing out of control with no end in sight and not just in NYC.

All the tax cuts that were given to companies, I know I didn't see a raise. The private sector drains their employees and there are only so many other jobs around.
A law should be in place to give pay increases to at minimum cover inflation no matter who you work for. The rich get richer and the rest of us try to stay above water.

Anonymous said...

Don't know if I can agree with the present homeless set aside policies, but I gotta give that lady a lot of credit. She's got plenty of backbone. Something you rarely see today.

Anonymous said...

Backbone? I hope this isn't what having a backbone looks like.

She will not be able to afford the rent in NYC her rent was going up and instead of figuring out a solution she went into the homeless system and has been there for over a year from what I've read, how much does the city owe her? How long is long enough to support the homeless, do we just keep them in the homeless situation like with section 8? If these people are capable they should be accountable for cleaning the subway system or parks or streets... right now they are given without having to contribute.

Do you think that the apartments t given as affordable units aren't calculated by the developers so the other tenants in the building have to pay more to make up the amount of revenue lost?

Anonymous said...

Let me guess, the increase from 5% to 15% will be taken away from the apartments set aside for low and middle-income renters?

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry that the tide has turned for these people. Maybe they got priced out of the market, maybe they're from other cities looking for a free ride, whatever; the bottom line is that it is god awful expensive to live here and if they can't make it work, they need to move on to cheaper areas. No one is entitled to live in NYC and we the taxpayers shouldnt have to fund it for them. I could live in a nicer place if I moved to NJ, or the eastern parts of LI, but I break my back everyday to stay here and if they can't keep up, I don't feel bad one bit, move on!!

Anonymous said...

Good luck trying to market these decelopments. Who would want to live in a place where you have unstable people living next door? This is all BS from the administration that keeps dishing it out.

Anonymous said...

I'm just wondering...
of the major world cities like London, Paris, Beijing, Moscow,Hong Kong,
how many bend over backwards and inside out to create 1st world housing for the homeless, addicted and generationally poor?
Don't bother looking this up, it's a rhetorical question and the answer is NO OTHER major world cities do this.
Try claiming you're homeless in Paris and expect to get a room with a view of the Eiffel Tower.
What's more, these progressive morons actually call on more homeless, destitute and illegal citizens of other nations to jump right in so the taxpayers can take care of them in NYC.
..and don't give me any bullshit about being mean-spirited and all that, this is about sustainability and reason. You don't call for more of the world's poor and uneducated when you're drowning in needy. This is not 1880. It's 2018 and this nation's needs have changed along with the 330,000,000 who now inhabit this country legally.

For those of you voting Democrat on Tuesday, think about what you're voting for in the larger sense of this nation's future.
Do you want to see your grandchildren living in third world conditions with all the misery that implies?

Sunnyside Al said...

Ah yes, this brings me back to New York City of old.

Remember when Wagner, Beame, Koch and Dinkins ruled the day?

I wasn’t born until Koch but I do remember my mother rushing us home before sunset.

We will eventually need another Republican like Giuliani to come in to clean up the mess.

Unfortunately, it is more likely a candidate from the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) will have a better chance against a Democrat than any conservative.

Anonymous said...


The last post had me looking up how the rest of the wealthy cities handle this and yes it seems most are do or die and not coddling like we do here in NYC.

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2157230/homeless-hong-kong-cycle-despair-evicted-street-sleepers-few-places-go

https://www.euronews.com/2018/10/14/paris-to-open-town-hall-doors-to-homeless-people-this-winter
Love this one for the comments.

Rusia well hidden didn't find much

http://theconversation.com/homelessness-how-other-countries-can-avoid-a-us-style-crisis-106010
UK - only 4,750 homeless...

We can go on and on - only the US has an issue to this scale. A lot of these homeless will never do better because let's face it just like the woman in this video they feel housing is owed to them.

If housing is a basic right then why is my rent so high???

JQ LLC said...

It can be done. And it can be done without integrating expensive housing with affordable. And even without towers

https://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/459100751/utah-reduced-chronic-homelessness-by-91-percent-heres-how