Mixed-use, mixed-income developments are a great way to help lots of people at different income levels.
Or, a way to annoy just about everyone.
Rollins Square, in the South End, was built with one goal in mind – provide housing for residents of the community – the poor, the middle-class, the upper middle-class.
As I recall, 20% of the building was rented to Section 8 tenants, 40% was “affordable housing” (but owned) and 40% was market rate. I believe renters have one representative on the condo board, but I’m not sure if that person could vote or not. I don’t believe the Section 8 folks got parking spaces in the garage.
All in all, a success, from what I hear (and see).
This could be the kind of development we’ll see more of, over the coming years.
Not that it’s without controversy.
Critics See Signs of Segregation In a Proposed West Side Tower – By Gabrielle Birkner, The New York Sun
Dateline, NYC: Low-income residents of a tower that may be erected above a historic Upper West Side church would enter the building through a different door than owners of market-rate condominiums, and would not have access to the gym, playroom, or media center on the condominium’s amenities floor.
Some in the neighborhood are hailing the project as a silver bullet because it would generate enough money to cover West-Park Presbyterian Church’s renovations and upkeep while ensuring that the affordable units remain accessible to low-income New Yorkers in the long-term.
Others are calling the separation according to income level a distasteful form of segregation.
[A] spokesman for New York Acorn, an affordable housing advocacy organization, Jonathan Rosen, said the proposal “brings a type of social exclusion that really has no place in the city in this day and age.”
I don’t think it’s a fair criticism; at the very least, it’s more complicated than the opposing side would think.
The owners of the condos will be paying association fees which will go to pay for the use of the common area amenities, the gym, playroom and media center.
However, at Rollins Square, which was built on land owned by the Archdiocese of Boston, there is no “segregation” at all – all types of units can be found on each floor, and residents share the same stairwells and elevators.
Bottom line, low-income residents in need of housing will be able to live in comfort (brand new housing), while market-rate buyers will get the level of luxury they are asking for, the developer will get his profit, and the church that is on the site of the project will receive much-needed money for its renovations.
What do you think?
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