Bloomberg badmouthing Mitchell-Lama tenants

Here is New York's "housing" Mayor, speaking at Google on June 18, 2007. Asked why he wasn't doing more to preserve Mitchell-Lama, he rambled (cut out here) and then claimed the tenants just wanted to make money by buying their apartments at low rates and selling them high. Never mind that most Mitchell-Lama tenants can't afford to buy; the reality is that they just want to pay affordable rents. Bloomberg defends his own inaction by badmouthing tenants.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• bloomberg
• mitchell-lama
• housing
• tenants

[sekharcu]

It's great that he's creating 18,472 units of affordable housing. His job of building or preserving 165,000 units by 2013 would be easier if in fact he put some political weight behind the several bills that his administration proposed to preserve some 20,000 units of pre-1974's and some 95,000 units of post-1973 as affordable housing.

[bangbangbangyou]

Why is this video,s title "Bloomberg badmouthing Mitchell-

Lama tenants"? Instead, it should be titled "I am badmouthing Bloomberg". Bloomberg doesn't say anything about tenants selling their apartments. If they do sell their apartments, they have to pay big taxes!

[sekharcu]

Bloomberg is conflating tenants and owners. Tenants don't own their apartments, so there is nothing to sell. He suggested that "tenants" have no interest in preserving affordable housing.

[KamiWeb3]

Mitchell-Lama Housing (both rental and co-operatively owned) is the New York STATE-WIDE program and subject to the State legislation. In order to preserve Mitchell-Lama

, Mayor Bloomberg proposed bills to the State Legislature that would protect more than 32,000 households in NYC Mitchell-Lama from large rent increase so as to allow renters to become homeowners. The bills are pending in the Senate Housing Committee. I found Bloomberg's comment on the video informative.

[sekharcu]

Unfortunately, Bloomberg did not actually support the bills that he proposed. And while some Mitchell-Lama co-opers may want to privatize their apartments, the 125,000 ML tenants by and large can't afford it and just want to keep their apartments affordable for themselves and the next generation.

[bedpotato]

Mitchell-Lama is the last refuge of affordable housing in Manhattan, unless you miraculously win one of the housing lotteries. In fact, the only affordable M-L development left is in Chelsea. The Grand Street M-L went market rate after the owners were caught hoarding apts in an effort to keep out minority tenants. Once the Chelsea M-L goes, that's all she wrote. And we all know what happened to Stuyvesant Town.

[ProductionTime]

Division of Housing and Community Renewal has launched a complaint line for tenants of State-supervised Mitchell-Lama properties (both rental and cooperative).

Tenants in Mitchell-Lama developments can register complaints about their apartment, building or complex twenty-four hours per day. The new complaint line -- 1-866-463-7753 -- is toll free and will be manned by the Office of Housing Operations from 9 AM to 5 PM. Tenants may also leave a voicemail message after business hours.

[KamiWeb3]

Mitchell-Lama created in 1955 doesn't seem to work well in the present economic dynamics of NYC where FMV of housing and its rent rises rapidly. The Mitchell-Lama developments manage the apartments and set their rent. Because many of them are becoming eligible for buyout after 20 years, they are leaving the program. This program is still under the State supervision. I just hope that Bloomberg's NEW HOUSING MARKETPLACE ($7.5 billion plan) will help middle-low-income people in our city.

[Queen7K]

Sorry, I still admire Mayor Bloomberg!

[bangbangbangyou]

WOW! YOU CAN'T TAKE ANYONE WHO DISAGREE WITH YOUR VIDEO OR YOUR BIASED OPINION! WHY DON'T YOU SIMPLY LET ALL OTHER VIEWERS REPLY TO THE COMMENTS POSTED HERE?

Each tenant has his/her own business and choice, which is a universal truth. The statement of the truth is not

BADMOUTHING.

B

[Queen7K]

GOOD NEWS!

According to the today's news (7/5/07) New York City has created record breaking 18,472 units of affordable

(low-income) housing in the 2007 fiscal year that ended June 30. Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan, at a cost of $7.5 billion, the ten-year plan is the largest municipal affordable housing plan in the nation's history.

[Queen7K]

I think Mayor Bloomberg is doing a g