When affordable housing gets expensive
The topic of affordable housing is a sticky one. Some feel that it is for lazy people who want to collect welfare, while others believe that it is a helping hand for hard workers who need an extra boost. No matter which side of the affordable housing debate you stand on,
everyone agrees that all families should have access to sanitary and safe housing no matter how much or how little they make. When the housing conditions get too dangerous in a rental unit people simply say, “move!” But what do you do when you own the property that is endangering your family’s life?
Most people know that homeownership is expensive. You pay for everything from the closing costs to water bills to fixing a leaky faucet. When the costs of repairs are directly connected to poor workmanship by the contractors then whose pocket should the money come out of?
As part of a continuing series in the Daily News, homes that were shoddily built using HPD subsidies are exposed. Some would shrug it off and say, “sell it and move on.” It’s not quite that simple for homeowners like Lt. Delgado from Harlem. Delgado has only owned his home for 3 years and he has suffered extensive water damage due to poor construction of the home. If he were to bail out now, the city would require him to pay back about $100,000 in subsidies.
Some of the complaints from Delgado and owners of similar properties include:
- Large cracks and holes in various places throughout [the] building, including front stairs, basement walls and window sills
- Leaks, drafts, deteriorating masonry, improperly installed locks and electrical defects
These properties are primarily new townhouses located on E. 119th and 120th Sts. between Park and Madison Aves. and the Landmark Projects, between Fifth Ave., Frederick Douglass Blvd. and 121st and 129th Sts.
You can read the whole story and the rest of the series here:
New York Daily News [nydn]
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I read that to be a multi family townhouse, owners apt and tenant apartments.
Historically multi family is a vehicle for home ownership in New York.
yup looks like you are right. i guess im just jealous—i cant even afford a jacked up townhouse with leaks!
ac, i think it’s a townhouse and he rents out the other floor(s)
Most of these folks live in one part of the townhouse and rent out the other (says so in the article right above the quote cited by 3pm
“One of my tenants refused to pay me for three months because of water penetration,”
he has tenants living there that werent paying him rent because of the issues…so that means he doesnt live there but his tenants do, right? maybe im misunderstanding?
Wait, where did it say that he doesn’t live there? I didn’t see that in the article that was linked.
to me the most shocking thing in that article, (which is not in the part uptown excerpted, but in the full article) is that this guy doesnt even live there. he rents the place out!!!
hard to feel sorry for the mini real estate magnate.
That is truly scary. One can’t help but wonder if those people who are receiving “affordable” prices on housing via subsidizing, etc are getting shafted. I remember looking at some of the “subsidized” apartments at one of these luxury condos in harlem. They were labeled Tier II apt’s. Curiosity got the best of me and I snuck into one of the “regular” Teir I apartments on another corridor. It had much nicer amenities like stainless steal washer/dryer, marble wall tiles in the bathroom and stuff like that. And that didn’t phase me. I understand why they do these things. I mean what person in their right mind is going to pay market rate for an exactly identical apt going for $300,000 less on the same floor. So the developers use these tactics. But I couldn’t help but wonder…what other differences might exist between the subsidized units and market rate ones in terms of quality work put in. And this is just pure hypothesizing. Could the cheaper units (which are still expensive for the working class)have been put together by cheaper contractors, with subpar materials, etc. It’s not too much of a stretch given the above article. And in the end…the recipients of “affordable” housing end up paying for it anyway.