By David Cruz

With two-thirds of Bronxites allocating a large percentage of their take-home pay towards rent, Mayor De Blasio released a $41 billion, 10-year plan that looks to ease the burden.

Standing outside the 1269 College Avenue with city, state and federal officials, De Blasio unveiled a comprehensive plan that intends to add or protect 200,000 new and affordable apartments by 2024.

“Affordable housing isn’t good enough if it’s substandard. It has to be quality, decent affordable housing a family can actually live in,” said De Blasio. “So we’re looking for quantity and quality.”

Details of the plan are outlined in a 115-page report entitled “Housing New York,” which ensures low-income families secure quality housing, affordable housing apartment buildings are well-maintained and delays in development projects are nil. The plan would involve the city directly earmarking $8 billion to the plan, with the remaining coming from city and state funds. Monies would help beef up staff for the city’s Housing, Preservation and Development, which would increase enforcement of building codes. De Blasio also intends to double affordable housing to very low-income earners–under $25,150 for a family of four.

De Blasio used 1269 College Avenue as an example of once derelict affordable housing that’s made a comeback. The five-story building is part of a collection of buildings that went into disrepair as far back as the 1980s. While rats occupied the building, many tenants dealt with collapsed ceilings and lack of heat and hot water. De Blasio, in his role as Public Advocate, dubbed the landlord of the building, the city’s worst.

But Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association, a community group, stepped in to aid the College Avenue tenants. The group sought attention to the issue, inspiring a contingent of private and public monies through the city Housing Preservation and Development to fix the problems of its former management company, Eli Abbott’s College Management. Since then, Wavecrest Management, a family-owned rental management firm, took over the building’s mortgage last year to begin repairs on the building. Tenants will live in temporary housing while Wavecrest makes repairs.

But one common issue when buildings are properly managed is whether rents will go up, often a sign management seeks a higher income tenants. But De Blasio ensure he will keep after Albany to ensure rent regulations remain affordable in the city. “I think that’s something New York City should get to make its own decisions about for our own tenants, and we will continue that effort,” said De Blasio.

As for whether the Bronx, where roughly 60 percent of residents pay more than a third of their take-home pay, De Blasio ensured “the Bronx will get a lot done through this plan.” 

Reach reporter and editor-in-chief David Cruz at dcruz@norwoodnews.org and 718-324-4998. 

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.