AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN NEW YORK CITY

The intent in this paper is to provide an overview of the rise and fall of interest in affordable housing in New York City during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Primarily, this will be viewed through the lens of the businessperson, or real estate investor, although other perspective will be mentioned. The problems inherent in creating and maintaining affordable housing in a major metropolitan area are exemplified by this case study.

In looking at the history of the creation of affordable housing, it is apparent that during the past three decades, the emphasis has been on the public role in creating and maintaining affordable housing, rather than on efforts within the private sector. At the Federal level, both HUD and the FHA have been charged with construction and/or purchasing affordable housing and making it accessible to low- and moderate-income people. However, the prime years for that effort were the 1960s and 1970s, with a decline in federal government involvement and funding during the Reagan years. Part of the impetus for that decline was the initiative of Jack Kemp who sought to put forward a new program for urban development that focussed on private enterprise zones and encouraging private investors to reinvest in the decaying inner cities.

The result for cities such as New York were negative. During the eight years of the Reagan administration, New York City lost over $12 bill

. . .
m Martin (1993) just briefly discussed the impact of drug abuse on low-income housing efforts in his longer article about the failing efforts of one Harlem landlord. In that article, he noted that the landlord was bitter about the relative success of the drug dealers in relationship to herself, noting that they were likely to survive her in the area. In that article, there was emphasis on the fact that the landlord, along with tenants and police, had worked to keep the housing units relatively drug-free, but that they were not entirely successful. For example, in one building with 33 units, two of the units were known to be residences of drug dealers who operated relatively freely. The drug problems in these buildings, as in many other buildings, had several impacts on affordable housing efforts. First, the sale and use of drugs on the premises tended to lead to more violence and greater damage to the housing stock. Thus, maintenance costs are generally higher than average and higher than anticipated. Second, banks and other institutions are increasingly unwilling to loan money in certain areas of the city, particularly those which are ravaged by drugs and violence. Finally, drugs have an impact on affordable housing by l
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Albert Berger, York City, Frank Braconi, David Diamond, Harley Brooke-Hitching, Low Flow, Drug Martin, Preservation Corporation, Dan Margulies, Role Government, affordable housing, real estate, private sector, york city, housing stock, real estate weekly, maintenance costs, estate weekly, federal government, housing units, environmental safety, maintaining affordable housing, community preservation corporation, permanent housing homeless, housing york city,
Approximate Word count = 5154
Approximate Pages = 21 (250 words per page)

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