Rents are similarly rock-bottom and bear no relationship to market rates. The incentive has worked to preserve some of the Mitchell-Lama stock, thus some New Yorkers have been able to live at a fraction of the cost of market-rate housing.įor instance, apartments that would normally sell for a million dollars in Chelsea would cost income-qualified residents $85,000. The New York City Housing Development Corporation, which holds mortgages on the existing Mitchell-Lama rental and cooperative housing developments, also holds a second program aimed to extend financing to Mitchell-Lama owners and co-ops to undercut costs for repairs. The loss of Mitchell-Lama housing opportunities is another reason why affordable housing in the state but particularly in NYC has grown to crisis proportions. Giving up the tax abatement and subsidies has proved lucrative for building owners, given the soaring real estate values in New York City. Fewer than 45,000 units still exist in fewer than 75 Mitchell-Lama buildings.Īccording to New York State housing officials, the diminished supply of Mitchell-Lama housing is the result of owners or building boards opting to pay off mortgages and convert the buildings to market rate rentals or sales. Sixty years after Mitchell-Lama arose, the number of apartment complexes, co-ops and other Mitchell-Lama program buildings has dropped significantly. But the units are now transitioning to market-rate apartments, like this 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom unit at 310 Greenwich Street, which was listed for rent at market rates now of over $6,395 per month. With 1,260 apartments and townhouses located in three towers at 310 Greenwich Street, 40 Harrison Street and 80 North Moore Street, the complex was built in 1972 under the Mitchell-Lama rent-protection program. One example is the Independence Plaza North complex in Tribeca. Some prominent Mitchell-Lama complexes still exist, despite market forces that have led to privatization of some of the original complexes. With about 100,000 units in its heyday, Mitchell-Lama buildings and complexes were located in formerly blighted areas of Manhattan, including the Upper West Side, Chelsea, Lower East Side and in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, too. The program is administered by the New York City Housing and Preservation Department and has offered income-restricted rentals and “limited equity” co-ops. Named after the two lawmakers who originated the legislation creating the program (New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell and Assemblyman Alfred Lama), Mitchell-Lama buildings numbered 269 at the program’s peak in the 1960s and ‘70s. Among the subsidized housing programs in New York City, Mitchell-Lama has provided affordable housing to tens of thousands of New Yorkers since its inception in 1955.
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