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Monday, May 21, 2007

West Bronx Housing

There's an interesting piece in today's New York Times about 1520 Sedgwick Avenue - a building widely seen as the birthplace of hip-hop. According to the Times, the building's landlord has recently opted out of the state's Mitchell-Lama Housing program, which will allow them to charge higher rents.

This part of Morris Heights has increasing home-ownership, and many buildings - including this one - have views of the Harlem River, the High Bridge, and Washington Heights. When you take into account the plans to renovate the Harlem River waterfront, not to mention the unprecedented development going on one mile south of the neighborhood (the new Yankee Stadium, the redevelopment of the Bronx Terminal Market), it's easy to see why landlords are getting excited.

Still, the west Bronx remains one of the cheapest (the cheapest?) places in the rent and to buy. On Sunday there was this article about buying in Highbridge, where house-hunters, priced out of Harlem and Inwood, can still find one-bedroom apartments for less than $100,000.

3 comments:

  1. Leave it to the Times to put a gentrification spin on everything. Of course the loss of affordable housing is a real issue, but is it really because higher income folks are moving in?

    The article on Highbridge sounds like it was written by someone who is trying to sell an apartment building there. 45% graduation rate vs. Elaine Rivera from WNYC moving in... the author merely mentions some of the hard data but elaborates extensively on a few anecdotes that clearly point out the agenda being pushed.

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  2. I think that there is a fundamental tension thorughout NYC which is reflected here, with lowered crime, neighborhoods are skyrocketing in value. The goals of keeping affordable housing, housing the homeless and the disabled are having to compete with educated professionals, illegal and legal immigrants. Years of hard work by grass roots community leaders like yourself to stabilize and improve our city is also bearing fruit. Everybody from Bruce Ratner to longtime residents that stayed in the Bronx while it declined wants to benefit.

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  3. I'm interested in finding out--also--what the loss of jobs at the DHP means to us. There's already talk they are taking people out of substandard housing, but are they putting them in shelters?

    I think it's better to have substandard housing than to have homeless people. I also think that if these people want to work, they could be put to work in fixing up their buildings, learning plumbing, carpentry, and other forms of maintenance.

    I feel that Mayor Bloomberg and his friends have done more to increase the amount of corruption, lazy city workers, and homelessness than anyone else in recent history. Why are people so blind to his ways? He's done more to destroy this city than anyone else.

    http://www.gothamist.com/2007/05/31/landlords_helpe.php

    ReplyDelete

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