08-22-2011 Supportive Housing Does Not Help Anyone
In the 1950s and 1960s, the practice of "blockbusting" became commonplace. Speculators depressed housing prices by scaring away white middle-class residents. Then they resold the properties to black homebuyers at artificially inflated prices, often resulting in default and further devaluation. Today the practice of blockbusting continues, except now it's largely minority renters that the investors want out. The new buyers are us, the taxpayers, underwriting the supportive housing industry. Government agencies pay supportive-housing profiteers far above market rate for buildings they convert from normal rentals to taxpayer-subsidized housing for the mentally ill. For each "special-needs" tenant their facilities house, investors can collect more than $3,000 a month. Protected by rent stabilization, existing residents, who might only pay $500 a month for the same unit, often stand in the way of maximum profits. So investors use the threat of the incoming population to scare them off. |
06-05-2011 Join us in Respectfully Raising our Voices at Community Board 7 Meeting
Community Board 7 Chair Mel Wymore asks: What HPD programs can be made available to preserve SRO's as a resource for affordable housing aside from the work of the Supportive Housing Loan Program (SHLP), which as you know only targets tenants from city shelters and does not traditionally focus on preserving tenants in place in fully occupied buildings? Answer: This question, placed in a recent Wymore letter to the City Dept. of Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD) reveals: 1. That in the view of the City, the SROs are now targets for City programs, like the St. Louis, an SHLP City program that says “affordable housing” but in reality means “special needs” housing 2. That it is common knowledge that the programs like the Lantern’s St. Louis evict existing poor tenants to make way for problem populations Dear Neighbors, We ask that you join us in respectfully raising our voices at: Community Board 7 Monthly Meeting Next Tuesday, 7th of June At 6:30 PM Jewish Home for The Aged Auditorium 120 West 106th St, btwn Amsterdam/Columbus PLEASE HOLD THAT DATE The future of our community is at stake. It is time for our elected officials to drop the Orwellian doublespeak about using the tourist SROs for affordable housing. The true intention of the Bloomberg Administration and City Council Member Gale Brewer for several years has been to eliminate the tourist hotels, and replace them with Homeless Facilities that will house problem populations. This is being done in the name of something called “affordable housing.” And who could be against such an apple pie issue? But is that what it really is? This is not the affordable housing our elected politicians and Mr. Wymore claim will house people who work in the CB7 UWS district and want to live here. This is housing that will include people who do not live here now, a citywide homeless pool, while existing SRO tenants will be forced out because they cannot co-exist with people who are “severely…persistently mentally ill” with a dual diagnosis involving drugs, alcohol and/or violence—and more than 40% have been incarcerated. It’s called New York-New York III. Prominent social workers who live in our neighborhood have warned us about this population and about the type of facility, while not called a shelter, constitute “mental health warehouses” where part-time services are provided for a population with 24/7 needs. Without our speaking up, many of the SRO hotels you pass by daily in our beautiful neighborhood will become facilities. Even the existing SRO tenants will see their lives turned into living hells. We know because we have been in this type of building, have seen it happen, and the SRO tenants who support Neighborhood In The Nineties have written to us, and made pleas to us in the street to stand up against such warehouse facilities. If we don’t act now, it will be too late. The safety of the neighborhood, our streets, parks and quality of life is at stake. We realize that this is a long, drawn-out process. But we simply cannot allow ourselves the luxury of discouragement and apathy. To protect our neighborhood requires constant vigilance and persistent opposition to projects that can negatively impact the Upper West Side. So please attend the June 7 meeting of Community Board 7. We urge you to make the effort. Attend and speak out against the St. Louis, and the host SRO hotels that could become similar “facility” projects in the neighborhood and in favor of the bills calling for a time out on the illegal hotel law. For more information, please check out the Borough President’s report, which documents the 1,957 units of special needs housing in former SRO hotels, and the up to 3,500 additional units that Bloomberg and Brewer actively seek to drop on the district. Most of these are within a ¼ mile or already are in the Neighborhood In The Nineties area. http://www.nyc.gov/html/ In other news…As a result of the Gale Brewer Open House last week, we will be meeting with Senator Adriano Espaillat later this week to discuss housing issues in the neighborhood. On behalf of our Neighborhood In The Nineties, Aaron Biller |
09-17-2009 Fund Raising Effort goes into High Gear
At a meeting on Wednesday, September 16th, the attorney for Neighborhood in the Nineties, Michael Hiller, Esq., (Weiss & Hiller law firm) spoke to attendees and addressed the urgency of our need to raise funds to appeal the decision to allow the Lantern Group to proceed with construction. |
08-06-2009 The fix is in. But our fight must continue! Judge Bart Stone has indicated in an oral decision that is “not final” and not yet written, that he will dismiss our petition.
The announcement was made before he has articulated in writing why he is dismissing it. He admits to having trouble writing the decision. However, Stone
admits to being pressured into rushing his decision because Lantern’s
attorney called him and said that their financing hung in the balance,
so could he please hurry up?
We believe that an appeal to a higher court was always part of th
e fight. So our plan is to appeal in court, and appeal to our neighbors to help fund that appeal.
To those who need a refresher on why we are fighting the
Our issues with the facility, stated simply include:
1. The introduction of a population that is both severely mentally ill and has drug/substance abuse problems in a residential community with major schools-PS 75, Twin Parks Montessori and West Side Montessori, the Dinosaur and Hippo playgrounds in 2. Social services experts call this project a Mental Health Warehouse. Its size is justified by its economics. Lantern overspent, on a per-square-foot and unit-by-unit comparison of hotels on the same block by 50%. So, it must have more units. Monetary amortization wins out over mental health! It's as large as three hospital mental wards; 3x larger than anything program advisor Fountain House has ever been involved with to date. 3.
Supervision is limited to 9 to 5 most weekdays, there are very few
weekend hours-so there is no one on hand to deal with decompensations
most of the time, which may impact the community and other building
residents. Lantern’s 24-7 support includes the on-site janitor. Most of
the MICAs* and recently released jailbirds need their daily meds to
function. But there’s no one in the proposed
facility to ensure compliance, SO WATCH OUT! (This is the actual
proposed population-Brewer et al call this "affordable housing." That
is a Big Lie).
4. The housing is substandard. All this money--$50 million to build an SRO. 21st Century residences-without-bathrooms for people with these issues is an outrage and could precipitate more problems in the community. This inadequate arrangement is the brainchild of Councilperson Gale Brewer. "It (proposes to be) the most expensive supportive housing project in the city's history," reports WCBS-TV. 5. There are 13 community board districts in 6.
Lantern Group as a developer has no track record in demolishing a
building while tenants continue to live there. This is a complex
project and the lives of people in the building and in the immediate
area, as this is a physically fragile structure with hazardous levels
toxic black mold, lead and asbestos, hang in the balance. The
Buildings Dept, which calls this project an "80% demolition," should
err on the side of safety and stop them now. Construction could cause a massive release of toxins, bed bugs, rats, roaches.
7. Th e precedent set by allowing 3 more floors mid-block threatens the architectural environment of the neighborhood, violating the basic tenets in the zoning law by creating a building that is only 50% fireproof !!!! 8. The number of police in the 24th precinct is 25% of the number we had 20 years ago---400 cops in 1986; about 100 today! If there is a mental health emergency (decompensation), it could tie up most or all of the police units in the precinct, leaving the balance of the community without police patrols. Remember the homeless shelter on
If we do not continue to fight for our wonderful residential neighborhood against the Mike Bloomberg and his personal pets in the Millionaire’s Club won’t put a single MICA special needs facility in the UN area. They have “0” supportive units. Why risk an international incident? Yet they claim such facilities have no community impact!
We therefore ask you and our other neighbors to make a financial contribution to the legal fund of Neighborhood In The Nineties Inc. Please consider writing a check for: $25___, $50___, $100___, $250___, $500___, $1,000___, $2,500 or $_____ Checks may be written to: Neighborhood In The Nineties, and sent to:
Neighborhood In The Nineties Legal Defense 310 West 94th Street #1B |