Although Mayor Bill de Blasio had good intentions when he decided to build and protect 200,000 units of affordable housing in East Harlem he disregarded one important factor during his planning process: the residents’ voices.  After reading both “How East Harlem Wrote Its Own Development Plan,” by Oscar Perry Abello, and “Affordable Housing’s Forever Solution,” by Jake Blumgart, I developed an understanding on two vastly different approaches to affordable, or low-income, housing.  Community land trusts are built through outside entities, often nonprofit organizations, that buy land and remove it from the market to be sold at a flat rate.  Through this method, the needs of the residents get met, and often times community members even have direct say, making up large members of the land trust board.  Moreover, housing is not always the main concern with land trusts, and often they are used to help build mixed spaces and to form a community.  Section 8 housing and low-income housing credits do not have the same affordability options, and clearly nor do zoning laws (Blumgart, 2015).  In New York City, the Universal Land Use Review Process (ULURP) requires an extensive seven- month process to review all of the zoning changes throughout the city.  Although there is an extensive board that oversees these changes, the citizens themselves often have little to no say as to what buildings will be developed in their neighborhood.  Thus, when Mayor de Blasio imposed his new policies for mandatory inclusionary housing and for zoning for quality and affordability, the gap between the government and its people was too great for him to see that he was actually stripping East Harlem of 282 units of affordable housing each year for 15 years, and that his plan would be neglecting the most vulnerable New Yorkers earning wages under 40% of the median (Abello, 2016).

After reading both articles, I came up with a plan of my own.  If the district instead decided to look for land community funding options then the residents would have more of their voices heard opposed to having the government speak for them, and they could have a say as to where each structure was put, as well.  The government instead of acting as a dictator, would play the role of a supporting actor.  Although committees like the East Harlem Neighborhood Plan could sway the decision of the district, they should have the first say and not the last.  Not to mention, Abello’s article focused on a community that was particularly exceptional.  Many neighborhoods that abide by zoning laws are unfortunately at the complete whim of the city.  Furthermore, after drafting a plan, the residents of East Harlem still must wait for the city to go through the process and to potentially approve or disapprove their proposition.  Essentially, what I believe would be the most effective strategy for the neighborhood of East Harlem, and perhaps for other gentrifying areas of New York City, would be for the government to provide subsidies for organizations like Community Voices Heard and for funders like those part of the East Harlem Neighborhood plan to buy plots of land to allocate for housing and other necessary amenities for the community.  The rest of the land could go to developers so that the city, too, could make money and still build up the area without the fear of pushing out long-term residents due to rising real estate prices.

The article about the plans for East Harlem was written in the summer of 2016.  After further research, I realized that my proposed plan for East Harlem was actually more probable than hypothetical.  A year after the East Harlem article was written, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development released a newsletter about the formation and expansion of a community land trust in New York City.  In fact, $1.65 million were granted to go towards the Community Land Trusts (CLT) in New York City, to regions like East Harlem.  Furthermore, interestingly enough former Council Speaker and political advocate for the East Harlem Neighborhood Plan, Melissa Mark-Viverito, spoke about an East Harlem/El Barrio community land trust as being a priority for the residents in East Harlem.  The is going specifically towards purchasing and fixing up low-income rental housing, which, as stated above was a problem with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan (Rohlfing, 2017).  Hopefully, with the help from the grants for the community land trusts in East Harlem, the residents will be able to build a community that they can call home without the fear of housing insecurity and without the direct intrusion from the New York City government.

 

Work Cited:

Abello O. 2016, “How East Harlem Wrote Its Own Development Plan.”  Next City.  https://nextcity.org/features/view/east-harlem-neighborhood-plan-upzoning-affordable-housing

Blumgart J.  2015, “Affordable Housing’s Forever Solution.”  Next City.  https://nextcity.org/features/view/affordable-housings-forever-solution

Rohlfing L.  2017, “Enterprise Awards New York City $1.65 Million to Support the Formation and Expansion of Community Land Trusts.”  NYC Housing Preservation & Development.  http://www1.nyc.gov/site/hpd/about/press-releases/2017/07/07-19b-17.page