Elected Officials: Press Releases
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
CITY HALL
NEW YORK, NY 10007
TEL: 212-788-7116, FAX: 212-788-7126
www.council.nyc.ny.us
July 22, 2003
Contact: Eldin Villafañe, 212/788-7157
SPEAKER MILLER, COUNCIL MEMBERS TO INTRODUCE URGENT BILL PROTECTING
MITCHELL-LAMA TENANTS
At-Risk Residents in over 25,000 Apartments Citywide to be Protected
from Increased Rents, Evictions And Forced Relocations
City Hall, NY – Council Speaker Gifford Miller with Council
Members Alan Gerson, Christine Quinn and Gale Brewer today joined the
Independence Plaza North Tenants Association and other tenant advocates
at a press conference at City Hall to introduce critical legislation that
would protect over 25,000 Mitchell-Lama tenants.
Speaker Miller and Council Members will introduce the Mitchell-Lama Conversion
Protection Bill, which is directed at building owners who plan to leave
the Mitchell-Lama program and convert these City-subsidized properties
to market-rate housing.
“Instead of exacerbating our City’s growing housing crisis,
we should be making every effort to solve it,” Speaker Miller said.
“At a time when tenants are already being hit with an unfair rent
hike and the gradual erosion of rent protections, we have to say clearly
that enough is enough.”
The bill calls on owners wanting to “opt out” of the Mitchell-Lama
program to give 18 months notice to the City’s Housing Preservation
and Development agency (HPD) as the supervising agency, and to the tenants.
HPD’s rules now require only 12-months notice.
Also, the measure will give HPD the power to determine whether an owner
has “substantially complied” with all rules and regulations
before approving a buy-out, and to impose civil penalties. HPD also would
be required to conduct a “Mitchell-Lama community impact study”
to examine the effects of the “opt out” provision on tenants,
including how many would be forced to relocate or otherwise could not
afford the higher rents likely to be charged if the building ends its
participation in the Mitchell-Lama program. In addition, the bill would
impose a $1,000 per unit administrative fee to offset HPD costs of managing
the compliance of these rules.
To highlight the effects of the recent announcement by an owner to “opt
out” of Mitchell-Lama, Council Members referred specifically to
the more than 2000 residents of Independence Plaza North in Tribeca, who
last month received notice that the process of converting to market-rate
housing was starting.
“We cannot allow Mitchell-Lama expirations to accomplish what the
terrorists could not and drive Lower Manhattan residents from their homes,”
said Council Member Alan Jay Gerson, who represents the residents of Independent
Plaza North and a sponsor of this legislation. “Independent Plaza
is in imminent danger of losing its affordability status, potentially
driving seniors, families and children out of the place they’ve
called home for over 25 years.”
"With the stock of affordable housing dwindling, we must ensure
that Mitchell-Lama residents are not forced out of the communities they
call home,” said Council Member Brewer, whose district includes
the largest number of Mitchell-Lama units in the city and is a sponsor
of the bill.
Neil Fabricant, head of the Independence Plaza North Tenants Association
in Tribeca, said: “We applaud the Speaker for stepping up to the
challenge of representing the people who live in taxpayer-financed affordable
housing developments that are being converted to market rates. We have
to keep New York a place where it’s possible to live decently, even
if you’re not a millionaire.”
Council Member Quinn, another key sponsor, said: “Mitchell-Lamas
in my district and throughout the City are a critically important source
of moderate and middle-income housing. The looming buyouts threaten the
stability of tens of thousands of families, numerous neighborhoods and
our City as a whole.”
“Preserving one of our country’s most successful affordable
housing programs represents an important step in that effort – an
effort to ensure that low and middle income New Yorkers can work and live
in this City well into the future,” added Miller.
In the early 1960’s, the State Legislature created the Mitchell
Lama program as a way to stimulate the development of over 150,000 units
of affordable housing for middle-class New Yorkers, making it among the
most successful housing development programs ever created.
###
|
