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Industrial, Homeless Policies Clash in East New York
A plan to build subsidized housing in a zone reserved for manufacturing businesses pits efforts to reduce the shelter population against hopes of saving industrial New York.
BrooklynEdges: A Mosaic Grows as Boerum Hill Changes
For 10 years, as the neighborhood around her Wyckoff Street address has changed, Susan Gardner has been covering her house in color.
Who's Afraid of NYU? School's Neighbors Air Gripes
In its push to expand, the school faces residual distrust from earlier development projects. We visited two recent university construction sites to see what it's like to be NYU's next-door neighbor.
'Vacated' Housing Full of Meaning for Brooklyn Nabes
A look at three buildings that the city once ordered vacated for safety reasons reveals the changing—and very different—fortunes of three Brooklyn neighborhoods.
Dozens of Properties, Millions of Dollars, No Landlord
One Bronx real estate operator had an interest in more than 100 buildings, most of them severely troubled. But when regulators or tenant advocates tried to push for improvements, they found no one to hold accountable.
Years of Warnings, Then a Boy’s Death
A Housing Court judge ordered repairs to the electrical system at the building on DeKalb Avenue. A year later, the work undone, an eight-year-old resident died in an electrical fire.
Corporate Ties Linked Troubled Buildings
The mortgages were massive—$36 million here, $32 million there, $19 million a couple years later. But the buildings remained in dismal shape, plagued by lead paint, rats and crime.
City Probe Uncovered Operator’s Power
After years of complaints about one Bronx real-estate figure, the city housing department issued an unprecedented subpoena. The records it turned up made for interesting reading.
Time to License Landlords?
Recent experiences with troubled buildings have housing advocates wondering if government needs new tools to protect tenants.
Why Bad Landlords Aren’t Locked Up
Prosecuting property owners for alleged negligence linked to fatal fires is hard to do, experts say. It’s only regularly attempted in high-profile cases involving firefighter victims.
Landlord Lawsuit Slapped Tenant Group
The Bronx activist group had targeted landlords and lenders before. This time, however, they were rewarded with a million-dollar lawsuit and a court order to leave the owner alone.
Properties Linked to Welfare Scam
Two people associated with a notorious portfolio of troubled Bronx buildings took guilty pleas after a welfare fraud investigation involving fake eviction cases.
Deep Concerns about ‘Three-Quarter’ Housing
Three-quarter homes give people who are homeless, leaving prison or seeking substance-abuse treatment a place to stay. But critics say the houses are unregulated and sometimes unsafe.
Lawsuits Target Three-Quarter Operators
At some dormitories for homeless people, lawyers allege, landlords forced tenants to attend particular drug programs and failed to provide safe housing. But operators say they were trying to do good—or at least following the law.
Three-Quarter Houses Mix Problems with Positives
The unregulated rooming houses often feature crowded, unsafe conditions. But even some critics point out that they play an important role in keeping people off the street.
Brooklyn: A Developing Story
Atlantic Yards may have generated the most heat, but it's just one of several ambitious development ideas that took shape in the borough over the past decade.
Opinions Harden Over Atlantic Yards Housing
The dramatic slow-down in housing construction at the Brooklyn site is fodder for opponents of the project. But supporters believe the development will still make good on its commitments.
Traffic, Noise & Hope: Atlantic Yards Still Elicits Mixed Views
Opponents of Atlantic Yards feel vindicated by the challenges facing the development. Business owners in the area express a mix of concern and optimism.
Nets Arrive, Questions Remain At Atlantic Yards
The Nets are coming to Brooklyn with a 15-man roster and a tip-off in fall 2012. Traffic, jobs, housing and economic activity are coming, too, but no one is sure precisely how much or exactly when.
Brooklyn's Arena Is Coming. What's Coming Next?
In a matter of months the Nets will be playing ball at the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic, as envisioned more than eight years ago by developer Bruce Ratner. But the rest of Atlantic Yards' promise has yet to be fulfilled. Given the deep disagreement the project prompted, what does that mean for Brooklyn?
Housing and Development
City Limits provides in-depth coverage of the housing market and initiatives, tenants rights and public housing, and community development.
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A Headstone for Jashawn Parker - Jarrett Murphy
Advocates in the Bronx neighborhood where he died in a 2002 apartment fire are collecting money to pay for a grave marker for Jashawn Parker, whose story is told in this month's issue of City Limits magazine.
Report Sees Renters' Crisis - Jarrett Murphy
When a housing market collapse kicked America into recession, it was reasonable to hope that one benefit would be to reduce housing costs for low-income people. No such luck.
As NYCHA Seeks Flexibility, Tenant Advocates Concerned - Jarrett Murphy
The city's public housing agency wants rules relaxed to allow creative budgeting. But advocates for residents want stronger assurances that financial flexibility won't come at the cost of tenant rights.
Veterans of 'Battle of Brooklyn' Tell War Stories in Bronx - Jordan Moss
Brooklynites who fought against the Atlantic Yards development shared lessons they learned with Bronx residents who are resisting a different city-subsidized development deal.
A Tragedy in the Bronx - Jarrett Murphy
Watch a video interview with the father of an 8-year-old boy killed in a 2002 fire at a Bronx apartment building that was under court order to fix its flawed electrical system.
Mortgage Woes Linked to Broader Neighborhood Despair - Jarrett Murphy
When one apartment building owner becomes overwhelmed by mortgage payments, the buildings nearby are also likely to be suffering from lapses in maintenance and safety, a new report finds.
Feds Fall Down on Homeless Women Vets - Jarrett Murphy
The number of homeless women veterans tracked by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs has more than doubled in the past five years, but they are poorly served by existing programs, an investigation finds.
Plan Calls for Longer Shelter Stays - Jarrett Murphy
A new report on homelessness in New York calls for some shelter residents to be housed for a year to 18 months, so they can get the time and resources needed to become self-sufficient.
What’s Not to Like About the Cuomo Budget? - Jarrett Murphy
Amid a sea of praise for Gov. Cuomo's second budget, advocates for low-income New Yorkers raised complaints. That, plus the latest on NYCHA, city job creation and the sick leave bill —all in our policy roundup.
Report Slams Housing Court For Tenant Treatment - Milesska Contreras
Access to lawyers, translation services and childcare would make Brooklyn Housing Court a fairer forum, according to a coalition of community groups.
More Poor People=More Crime? Not Necessarily, Says Report - Jarrett Murphy
A study of the effect of housing vouchers on public safety finds no evidence that the arrival of subsidy recipients leads to increases in crime. Rather, voucher holders tend to move to areas where crime is already high.
Report: NYCHA Residents' Unemployment Has Nearly Tripled - Jarrett Murphy
Residents of NYCHA developments and people receiving Section 8 subsidies post an estimated 27 percent unemployment rate, says a new study, but there are new opportunities to lower it.
Read It: Court Backs City Cut of Homeless Program - Jarrett Murphy
A state judge ruled that New York can end a rent-subsidy program for formerly homeless people that lost its state and federal funding.
Tenants, Pinnacle Eye Settlement Of Long-Running Dispute - Jarrett Murphy
Lawyers for both sides say there is a proposed settlement in the lawsuit tenants filed 2007 against the Pinnacle Group, alleging improper rent hikes and evictions.
NYCHA Big Says (Again) That Mass Layoffs May Be Coming - Ruth Ford
The Housing Authority's Chairman John Rhea warned of 3,000 layoffs unless the federal government moves to close a billion-dollar gap in public housing funding.
NYC Groups Ask Feds To Scold Bank - Gena Mangiaratti
A coalition of economic advocacy groups wants a federal bank regulator to give JP Morgan Chase a poor grade for its compliance with an anti-redlining law.
The Economics Of Rent Control, Revisited - Jarrett Murphy
As Albany heads toward a renewal of rent control, it's time to study up on the traditional arguments against rent regulation, and the counterpoints.
Beyond The 'Undercount': What The Census Tells Us - City Limits
While statisticians wrestle over whether the decennial count accurately captured New York's population, CUNY journalism students looked inside the numbers for stories of ethnic change in places like Ridgewood, Queens.
Tenant Advocates Wary Of Rent Reg Talks - Gena Mangiaratti
State leaders are edging toward a deal to preserve rent regulations. But advocates who'd hoped not just to save the laws but to strengthen them wonder what the final deal will look like.
CONVERSATIONS/OPINONS
America's Cities Shaped (and Mishaped) by Rules
Zoning laws, building codes and other regulations can seem like bureaucratic obscurities. But, says this author, they have a powerful—and often negative—impact on urban areas.
Homeowners Must Be Wary of Lien Sales
The city allows private companies to collect on overdue water and property tax charges. It's a sensible way to maximize public revenue, says this author, but it comes with dangers for vulnerable homeowners.
NYC's Comeback Was (Partly) Foreign-Made
In an excerpt from his new book, noted business writer Greg David looks at the unheralded role immigrants played in fueling New York City's late-20th Century resurgence.
Sister to a 'Worst Landlord'
"It doesn’t feel good to see your own brother featured in the news as the year’s worst landlord. It would feel even worse to be doing nothing about it."
Council Eyes Systemic Remedy for Housing Violations
Tenants may for the first time experience a code enforcement system that rewards their organizing efforts with lasting improvements in their buildings and their lives.
MULTIMEDIA
Letter to ACS Commissioner
A letter from advocates to the head of ACS outlining concerns about how the child welfare system handles cases involving parents with mental health diagnoses.
Wealth Gap Hits Record Between Whites, Minorities
The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households--the largest such gap in 25 years and roughly twice the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.
