Archive for the ‘Affordable Housing’ Category
Sponsors of supportive housing offering clinical and social services components, group homes and other providers are under scrutiny for unduly, or even illegally manipulating clients in order to sway elections. Such claims bring to light this subtle form of disenfranchisement, and the manner in which developmentally disabled persons may be exploited, manipulated, stripped of their fundamental dignity by others seeking a political agenda.
In the midst of this election season, providers of services and housing for the developmentally disabled are reminded of the right of those individuals to vote. Beyond emotional provocation, the individuals’ right to vote raises rather interesting legal and public policy issues. Federal law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, protects the right of developmentally disabled persons to vote. No eligible American should face disenfranchisement. Yet, states are authorized to enact local legislation affecting voting rights of such individuals. May a person’s developmental disability be such that the person is not “capable” of voting? What does “capable” mean? States (the State of Missouri, for example) that have tried to restrict or deny voting rights to developmentally disabled persons have been challenged.
New York State’s statutes affirm the rights of developmentally and similarly disabled individuals to vote. However, reports have emerged that developmentally disabled persons, and similarly vulnerable individuals, have been influenced to vote in favor of a particular party or candidate. Thus the issue of concern for providers goes beyond, “do such individuals have the right to vote?”, to, “Is the right of such individuals being influenced or even impaired?”.
Providers should support and facilitate their clients’ opportunity to vote. Assistance may include encouraging clients to vote, explaining the voting process and escorting clients to the polls. At the same time, providers are advised to exercise caution in doing so. Providers must avoid conduct, such as advocating or preparing absentee ballots, that may be construed as improper. Please consult with legal counsel or organizations such as, “Autism Speaks” and “NYS Association of Community and Residential Agencies”, for further guidance.
Written by Philip J. Onorato
The foreclosure crisis has been a four-year nightmare for many homeowners, more than 3 million of whom have lost their homes. Many of these ex-homeowners are middle class people with jobs and safety nets, and have become renters or traded down for more inexpensive homes after losing their primary residences.
But for the very poor, options are limited, and the situation is dire, according to a report out Wednesday from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
The New York City block used as a parking lot and a place to board police horses for the past three decades is now the construction site for Gotham West, the largest-ever affordable housing project taken on by a private developer. A “U”-shaped brick building will take up almost the entire block from 44th to 45th streets and from 10th to11th avenues. Its construction began this past summer and Gotham West is expected to be complete by the summer of 2013.
The building reserves 682 of its units for affordable housing which makes up more than 50% of the total number of units. The anticipated design for the units includes stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and parquet floors. There will be three tiers of eligibility for the affordable housing units: only those families who make up to 50%, 135% and 165% of the area median income will qualify.
The city condemned and cleared the site in the 1970’s but no new building was ever built. Thanks to the development deal for the Hudson Yards project a few blocks south, the area was re-zoned for offices and homes which led to the approval of Gotham West.
Gotham Organization, the developer of Gotham West, funded the $520 million project with tax-exempt bonds and $200 million of its own money.
Gotham West will also include market rate units, 15,000 square feet of retail space and 25 condominiums.
By Dalila C. Castillo, Law Clerk
[Source: NY Times
Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to sell three Lower Manhattan commercial buildings has been strongly opposed by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Stringer has stated that it is critical for New York City to explore every opportunity available to create new affordable housing for the middle class. Mr. Stringer estimates that as many as 653 units of housing could be provided by the city buildings Bloomberg wants to put on the block. Mayor Bloomberg is motivated to sell the three city buildings to private developers in order to solve budget shortfalls. The Mayor, in his State of the City address, stated that $100 million in private sector tax revenue and cost savings over the next 20 years could be generated by converting public buildings to private buildings while bringing new jobs and housing for the downtown community.
Stringer has declared, however, that there must be a clear definition of public benefit from the Bloomberg Administration in order for the sale to go through. As head of the borough board, a body whose approval is required for sale of assets through the Economic Development Corporation, Stringer said he can and will avoid a vote on the sale of the buildings in order to retain the buildings for the City to develop affordable housing and public schools.
State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblywoman Deborah Glick also support Stringer’s stance on the issue. Locations for schools and affordable housing in Lower Manhattan have dwindled as the area has experienced substantial growth. Stringer hopes to provide additional growth for this thriving neighborhood by creating additional housing for the middle class.
By Chase Sandler, Law Clerk
[Source: The Real Deal]
To find subsidized housing for a largely Polish clientele, the North Brooklyn Development Corporation’s office secretary scours her newspaper daily for three-inch advertisements announcing new, “affordable” housing developments.
Another employee clips ads from the free daily distributed at his subway stop. A tenant organizer sometimes consults online listings published by city and state housing agencies, but staffers have found those entries often are outdated and incomplete.
“You have to be constantly looking for available units, but we just don’t have the time or resources,” said Filip Stabrowski, a tenant organizer at the Greenpoint nonprofit. “A lot of the time, it winds up coming down to word of mouth.”
In the 21st Century, word of mouth is not how New Yorkers typically meet basic needs. The city has modernized many of its functions, building online systems for reporting potholes, appealing parking tickets and tracking the performance of police precincts and local schools. But even as the city undertakes a major expansion of its subsidized housing stock, the process of finding and applying for those apartments has become so haphazard and mysterious that many New Yorkers don’t even know where to start. Others are defeated by the complexity of the system.
NYCity News Service: Read More…
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel, Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Mathew M. Wambua and New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) President Marc Jahr announced today the City has reached a major milestone in its affordable housing plan, the New Housing Marketplace Plan. New York City is now three-quarters of the way towards completing Mayor Bloomberg’s goal of creating and preserving 165,000 units of affordable housing by the end of 2014. The City invested $1.3 billion and financed 15,827 units of affordable housing for middle-class and low-income New Yorkers in Fiscal Year 2011, which ended June 30th.