Today many people cannot afford the standards that we have set – like the 400 square foot minimum size required for a new one-bedroom apartment, or restricting occupancy to no more than three unrelated individuals. As a result, more and more people are living outside the standards altogether. Today's “tenements” are small homes, over-occupied by working immigrants. The new "SROs" (single-room occupancy hotels) are apartments shared by six or seven unrelated people. It's not fair that artists who live in illegal space are accepted and regulations permit their legalization, but others living illegally are not accorded this option.
Illegal occupancies should be considered even-handedly, and with the real goal of meeting the needs these occupancies fill. Can’t some changes to existing dwelling units and to regulations be made that improve fire and building safety, and ensure a decent, legal environment, while providing more affordable housing? By creating new kinds of dwelling units we could increase the availability of housing for a wide range of people, from the homeless to young college graduates to immigrant workers, all of whom are coming whether we’re ready or not. If simply keeping a roof over their heads makes people outlaws, perhaps we should rethink what a legal living space looks like, and rewrite the regulations accordingly.
And finally: Some communities must accept increased density that actually expands the entire inventory of housing; government should continue to use its land-use powers to increase the availability of buildable sites for a range of housing options; we must change the way we think about parking – why require it for new construction in Manhattan if we don’t want people to drive?; and we must stop burdening the construction of housing with a dizzying number of other social objectives, such as meeting prevailing wage requirements and inclusionary mandates.
Housing should not be treated like alcohol or tobacco, taxed by the society to discourage use. It is quite the opposite, and incentives should be there to encourage additional housing at all levels, because New York is not just our home, it’s the home of everyone out there who dreams of a better life.
Jerilyn Perine is the executive director of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, a nonprofit research and policy organization, and served as commissioner of the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development from 2000 to 2004.
