I think "we" will only effectively zone for affordable housing when "we" are unable to fill entry level positions.
At present, we have far more applicants than we do jobs. Low income (but employed....) folks are sharing apartments, rather than move away to places that might be affordable,
Sharing apartments like this? I'd rather move further out than to submit myself to that.
Read an interesting article the other day that of the 59 real estate districts in New York, Park Slope which has the property valued the most is taxed on 1-3 family homes at .2 % of the assessed value while Crown Heights is taxed at .6%. And apartment buildings come in at nearly 5%. There is no rhyme or reason how the city taxes the property and usually if the property hasn't been sold for awhile the assessment doesn't go up as much because the true market value hasn't been determined. So, if Crown Heights gets taxed 3 times more than Park Slope maybe we need to build affordable housing west of Flatbush Ave.
The article had me until the last paragraph where Hertz says housing subsidies for the poor are what's needed. New York probably has more low income housing than most cities but the problem as I see it is that the poor get lumped in together. If they were allowed to "mix in" with more affluent tenants in other developments they might have something to aspire to but if they're all the same they don't seem to have any interest in doing better. But then again, the more affluent tenants don't really want to live with people below their income either. So, it's sort of a catch-22 I guess. In addition, I would think that the people who could afford to pay $2500/mo in rent would get ticked off that there are others in the building paying $1000 for the same apartment.
Not the best approach... "Two Brooklyn women tired of 'white people moving into the area' force tenants out at gunpoint, then squat in apartment: police"
Funny enough when I read that story, I thought that the approach while sure to get one arrested and ultimately jailed was actually pretty effective in preventing gentrification. I don't think those three people that were "evicted" will return to that neighborhood.
I was actually thinking that the white women who were robbed (Daily News) and the black family that was harassed (above film) were similar in that they were not moving to a neighborhood to cause trouble.
Instead, each was moving to the best place they could afford.
I got that whynot_31, but feel the harassment aspect of the stories are vastly different.......but comically similar. Polyester shirts are back in fashion and wonder what the thieves were wearing.
Given that thieves either did not care about the consequences of their actions, or did not believe there would be consequences to the actions, I tend to think drug use plays a role.
As @mugofmead alludes, these folks seem to be more than two standard deviations from the mean.
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The more expensive apartment usually has better finishes, appliances, and views.
The tenant with money receives prompt repairs from building staff.
....whether this is an injustice that can be changed is where the meat of the conversation lies.
Such actions are effective against individuals, but rarely against macro trends.
A good film on the topic that sadly is likely too long to appreciate while at work:
Make sure to watch the whole thing....
It can easily be applied to the young white women who were not wanted in their new neighborhood.
Instead, each was moving to the best place they could afford.
but feel the harassment aspect of the stories are vastly different.......but comically similar. Polyester shirts are back in fashion and wonder what the thieves were wearing.
As @mugofmead alludes, these folks seem to be more than two standard deviations from the mean.