Middle-Class Housing in New York City?

Though the rise of the suburbs in the last half of the 20th century is rooted in various cultural shifts, the creation of middle-class suburban communities may have as much to do with the building practice of new development as with the issue of personal choice. In the nation’s largest cities, new housing developments are most frequently luxury apartments for the very wealthy; meanwhile, the social concern with providing enough affordable housing has increased pressure to create homes for low-income families. What’s left out of the cities? Middle-income housing.

Karrie Jacobs of Metropolis Magazine became aware of how this problem in her native New York. “Middle-income neighborhoods are disappearing from cities,” she writes, “and in New York they’re being squeezed to the very edge.”

The issue first grabbed her attention several months ago at a panel discussing a new development of townhouses in downtown Brooklyn—not, historically, a ritzy neighborhood. But the new homes are marketed at over $2 million. The plans included a 217-apartment complex to serve artists and low-income individuals, but nothing for those who fall somewhere in between.

Even more unsettling, when Jacobs queried the panel about housing for middle-income families, another developer pointed out that in New York’s real estate market, the $2-plus million homes actually represent the middle. In June, a study by the Brookings Institution showed that in 1970, middle-income neighborhoods accounted for 58% of the urban cityscape, versus 41% today. The fact that families of a given income will tend to live surrounded by families of a similar income is hardly news, but it is worthy of attention; the Brookings Institution argues that the existence of integrated middle-class neighborhoods is crucial to a community’s sense of upward mobility.

The findings of the report are echoed in specific examples. Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, built for veterans after WWII, have long been middle-class islands in the sea of Manhattan, but Metropolitan Life is vying to sell them off. The future seems clear: a new developer will most likely replace the 11,250 middle-income apartments with luxury condominiums, and no one, most likely, will replace the middle-income housing that is lost.

In an effort to do some investigation, Jacobs visited the Brooklyn Navy Yard, now occupied by a company called Capsys, who specializes in the construction of prefabricated houses. The houses are intended for a new community being established at the far edge of East New York. The neighborhood, known at one time for its high murder rate, will now become a development of middle-income homes called Spring Creek.

The new houses attracted her eye because the architect, Alexander Gorlin, presented his plans at the same panel that featured the $2 million townhouses in Brooklyn. Gorlin’s designs have focused on giving the townhouses “a more sophisticated look,” and have been viewed as an upgrade for the neighborhood. The houses, mostly two-story, 1,600-square-foot three-bedroom homes, will be sold by lottery, as the 637 available houses have already received roughly 12,000 requests. Though the median household income in New York City was $39,937 (versus $43,318 nationwide), the maximum income to be considered for the new housing development is 85,080 for a two-person household and $99,000 for a three-person household. At $204,000 with a $46,000 subsidy from the city, the new houses represent a possibility for middle-income families, if still slightly above average.

“I consider it a moderate-income development, between low and middle,” explained Ronald Waters, Nehemia Development Corporation’s general manager and director, the company responsible for the mixed-use affordable housing initiative. “It’s for people climbing out of the low-income level.” Precisely the kind of housing that the Brookings Institution said society—not just the middle-class—needs.

Read excellent descriptions and knowledgeable analysis of Alexander Gorlin’s new Spring Creek houses at both Architecture News (Well-Known Architect Breaks Ground on Phase One for Affordable Housing Development) and Miss Representation (Housing for the Rest of Us).

This entry was posted by Isabel on Thursday, November 16th, 2006 and is filed under Housing, New York, State. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.