Obv. hard to find a super housing deal in Manhattan, but I feel they’re out there. Like one of my friends at the Times was among a group who homesteaded a Lower East Side property years ago (basically a legal squat). Another close friend and sometime blog-commenter got to pay no rent increases for years while the market was exploding because the landlord had died and the property was tied up in probate court.
Anyway — via Curbed — here’s a Craigslist ad for a lottery for 18 rent-stabilized units at a new luxury Tribeca rental building. 88 Leonard (pictured at left) features a landscaped spa terrace with a 20-foot outdoor whirlpool, a sundeck with a hot tub and an outdoor garden.
The catch? You have to earn between $62,000 and $74,400 to be eligible … or if two people are renting, total income of between $66,443 to $85,050. A rent-stabilized one-bedroom rents for $1993. The 18 units were set aside because Liberty Bonds were used to finance the building. Why taxpayers should be subsidizing housing with hot tubs for people earning $62,000, I won’t get into.
(Here‘s a direct link to the lottery site if the CL ad has expired — note the ad says the application deadline has been extended).
$62K in NYC is not very much money. In fact, a person with an income of $62K who is not already in a rent stabilized apartment probably can barely live alone in NYC. However, to really help these middle class people out, we should have serious down payment assistance for poor and middle class people so they can own their apartment. This can become a lien on the property that can dissipate over the course of 10years? The longer you stay the less you would owe at closing and eventually you would owe nothing.
Say what you will about the cost but I’d rather invest in America than foreign wars.
I have no problem with subsidized rental housing for the middle class–however, I think we should mix people up more. Why put all the poor people together in a large building or a neighborhood of large buildings of poor people?
Sean are you fucking shitting me? I mean, I’m sure you’re a nice guy, but some people need to get their head out of their ass and take a tour of the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, Washington Heights, Harlem … get out of your fancy schmancy digs and see how the other half lives.
I earned $62K until pretty recently. $62K is not a “middle class” salary. It is far more than the median HOUSEHOLD income in this town which hovers around $40k. You can only “barely live alone in NYC” on that salary only if you need to have a doorman apartment in lower Manhattan.
There are immigrants who living here four, five to a room… I mean Jesus Christ spare me your pity…
Recently you posted you had a 1-bedroom for around $1400 per month. That is obviously not market rent. Take your $62K salary and shop around for a market rate 1-bedroom (A no-frills apartment without amenities or doorman is still easily over $2K p/month), then make some student loan payments and pay your taxes. It is not that much money.
I’ve been to all of the above neighborhoods you pointed out above and obviously they are all much much cheaper than Manhattan and have many many more rent stabilized units than Manhattan. I did not think my post should be taken as an insult to the poor or an example of me having my head up my ass.
The spa at the Tribeca building is not for the subsidized people–its for the market rate tenants, you just cannot discriminate on who can use it.
It is market rent. I live in Hell’s Kitchen between 10th and 11th Aves. in a third-floor walkup and $1,407. I found the apartment on Craigslist in October 2005 and started paying $1350 for it; the rent has gone up slightly since then. There were several other smallish but decent apartments I looked for in this neighborhood — a great neighborhood — at around that price.
Just look at Craigslist … you can find one-bedrooms in HK, the Upper East Side or the Lower East Side starting at around $1400-$1500.
In any case I never thought I had a god-given right to live in Manhattan south of 96th Street. Also the reason that rents are cheaper outside of Manhattan doesn’t have to do with the number of rent-stabilized units there.
I don’t think you’re insulting the poor, but I think you have a tenuous grasp on the lives of the poor if you think people earning $62,000 are “barely making it” or need some form of government help. I am insulted by that idea, yes.
Who should live in the Tribeca building? Only the rich? Only the poor? Why would either answer be better or more ridiculous than allowing people who make $62K per year to live there?
My friend makes $61K per year. I just did that friend’s taxes and I see they bring home $3200 p/month after taxes. They pay $1600 p/month in rent after taxes and pay $400 per month in student loans. That leaves $1200 p/ month to buy food, save money, pay utilities, etc….That is not the life of luxury and I do not believe this can be considered more than middle class.
The rich receive so much in government assistance when it comes to a slanted tax code and subsidies that I cannot believe you would target the middle-class to be devoid of such.
The rich receive so much in government assistance when it comes to a slanted tax code and subsidies that I cannot believe you would target the middle-class to be devoid of such.
Is that the kind of ethics you use as a lawyer Sean? That two wrongs make a right? That the rich have got theirs, so why shouldn’t the middle-class grab theirs too? Ugh.
Whoever the landlord of the Tribeca building wants to rent to is their concern. I don’t see why it is my decision or why you or I should have any say in it. And it does strike me as odd, giving $2 million in tax breaks to build a luxury building for the rich … even if 18 units go to the upper-middle class.
Re: your friend. Kew Gardens is middle class. Forest Hills is middle class. But I bet if he or she is paying $1600 he isn’t living in those neighborhoods, though, right?
P.S. – Don’t get me wrong, I posted that lottery information so people could apply for it. And in fact I mailed my application today. If the program exists people might as well take advantage of it.
So if you get this and your salary then goes up and exceeds the thresholds, do you lose your apartment? (That would mean an incentive to stall your career. Or if you don’t, then does this mean that you can hold onto this apartment unless your salary really goes up and it gets luxury decontrolled (I think that starts when the rent goes about $2,000, which it will for these apartments fairly shortly and you earn over $185,000 or thereabouts, I don’t recall the exact number and it has changed relatively recently for two consecutive years).
I know a retired couple that is facing luxury decontrol. The minimum draw from their 401K’s plus the interest from their other investments may put them over the limit and decontrol them. They are paying about $2000k for three bedroom, with views of hudson on the upper westside and are very bummed about loosing the place. Market rent would probably be about $5,000 for their place.
Anyway, if you get this place, you are basically going to so strongly incentivezed to stay in it you will have to resign yourself to living in a one bedroom for the rest of your life. Rent stabalization is a trap, in my opinion. Of course when it is a “Classic 7”, it is a very nice trap.
[…] awhile ago I had a post about a housing lottery for 88 Leonard, a luxury Tribeca highrise that was built in part with […]
Some of the fees to live in Manhattan apartments are well over $ 1000 a month just sehntmiog to consider. And then there is parking if you have a car (very limited and probably an additional monthly cost if you have it in your building). I would ask a real estate company to show you a few properties for rent and see if it is sehntmiog that works for you. I wouldn’t exceed 33% of your total income for housing. Take a look and see if it is sehntmiog you will enjoy. (Don’t forget to factor in if one of you loose a job/gets hurt/etc, can you still afford it)Personally speaking I like parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Both are usually much cheaper to live in and it’s a short train ride into the city. Was this answer helpful?
jesus americans must be rich! i cant bevleie a combined income of $ 200k could only RENT a SMALL apartment wtf?!In New Zealand you could buy a small house for that much. Was this answer helpful?