The Housing Authority’s plan to lease its land for luxury housing won cheers from the mayor Wednesday, but some of the contenders to succeed him weren’t so impressed.
Bloomberg called NYCHA’s proposal to raise money by leasing land in eight Manhattan developments for 3 million square feet of market-rate apartments “a creative idea.”
“If you want to have NYCHA buildings be improved and be great places to live, safe and clean and where things function, you’re going to have to have money from someplace,” he said.
He said the buildout of more than 3,000 upscale apartments on NYCHA land wouldn’t happen until after he leaves office in 2014: “Our successor in City Hall will really have to carry that program through.”
One would-be successor — former city controller William Thompson — immediately questioned why NYCHA should “play Monopoly with financiers so they can build more high-priced apartments in the city.”
“When there’s just a desperate need for affordable housing, this is just a bonehead move,” Thompson told the Daily News. “
If he was elected, he said, “This is something I would not move forward on.”
Another mayoral wanna-be, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, attacked NYCHA, which intends to seek developers in just five weeks, for keeping its plans under wraps.
“For years, we’ve encouraged NYCHA to consult with the Council and residents on a plan — which they clearly haven’t done,” Quinn said.
Quinn, Thompson and mayoral candidates City Controller John Liu and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio have vowed to replace the entire NYCHA board, including Bloomberg’s appointee, Chairman John Rhea.
Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito — whose upper Manhattan district includes three affected developments — said NYCHA has given tenant leaders only vague descriptions of the luxury tower plan.
She also criticized the lack of affordable housing in the plan, which lets developers rent out 80% of the apartments at “market rate.” Only 20% would go to families making $50,000 or less.
The luxury apartment plan also got panned by Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, which represents 8,000 NYCHA workers: “This is a drastic plan that requires extensive public discussion and should not be done in the last few months of the mayor’s term,” Floyd said.
Rhea did not respond to written questions about the plan.
Another mayoral candidate, City Comptroller John Liu, called the luxury apartment plan a “giveaway to developers with NYCHA getting a small paycheck for luxury real estate, built on the backs of current residents.”
