“How East Harlem wrote its own development plan,” by Perry Abello Oscar discusses the public housing units available to the East Harlem community, which allude to the wealthier parts of Manhattan by being named after the more affluent streets. One of the most important factors though is to note the paradox between the names of the homes, and the conditions of those living them. While the names of the public houses may suggest a wealthier clientele, the fact is that those who need to live in the homes struggle with the affordability of the housing.
One of the many low income advocacy groups which Oscar mentions, aims to tackle the problem of unaffordable housing by creating somewhat of a game for the public to interact with hands on and learn more about the zoning of their community. By creating different groups which view the problems of the housing and community differently, many suggestions are able to be made that could have possible implementations for the neighborhood’s future. The game created by the CUP advocacy group was made to tackle Mayor de Blasio’s plan for upzoning the communities in East Harlem, in order to increase the affordability of the area.
In “City taking bids for 400 unit East Harlem affordable complex,” Melissa Viverito claims that the city is soliciting bids to build up to 400 units along East 111th street, that will be completely affordable to households with annual incomes of $24,000. The upzoning that the Mayor would like to take place would increase a great amount of space for the citizens in need of public housing.
While upzoning is a decent way to create more housing units for a more affordable price, there are many drawbacks that it can have aesthetically and energetically for a neighborhood. These are important to keep in mind because although creating tall buildings may solve one problem, it is crucial to weigh the pros and cons of the situation in order to determine whether the result will be worth the cost. Additionally, it seems unfair that lower income communities are the one’s subject to deal with these other issues, just so that they can have affordable housing. The same solutions are not used in more upscale communities in which the citizens are able to advocate for themselves, and it is important to note this socioeconomic inequality.
Works Cited:
Melissa Viverito (2016). City taking bids for 400-unit East Harlem Affordable Complex. https://therealdeal.com/2016/05/23/city-taking-bids-for-400-unit-east-harlem-affordable-complex/ (last accessed 7 May 2017)
Oscar Perry Abello (2016). How East Harlem Wrote Its Own Development Plan. https://nextcity.org/features/view/east-harlem-neighborhood-plan-upzoning-affordable-housing (last accessed 7 May 2017)
