Mott Haven―Housing lottery is now open for new construction “affordable” apartments going up on Exterior Street directly south of 149th Street across the Harlem River Waterfront but after looking at the income requirements, the question yet again is, affordable for whom?
Sure the rents are well below market rate apartments in the general area ranging from $822 for a studio apartment to a jaw-dropping $1,224 for a three bedroom. Most three bedrooms in Melrose, Mott Haven, and Port Morris in Community Board 1 which covers where this development is located in, range from $1,800 to well over $2,500.
But in a district where over almost 65% of the population is on some form of public assistance and 56.4% of households make under $24,999, this leaves out the majority of people in the area―the most vulnerable and in need of truly affordable housing―unable to qualify for these apartments where the minimum for a single-person household is $30,069.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise though as the development at 530 Exterior Street will feature stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, bike storage, fitness room, I mean who would want to rent that to low-income tenants? (insert sarcasm here).
One would assume that at 60% of the Area Median Income, the apartments would actually be available to lower income families but we all know that the AMI is nothing but a lie since it is NOT the immediate area but using income data from the rest of NYC combined with that of Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland counties thus inflating the true area median income of the neighborhood.
But enough about my rant on why the name affordable is nothing but bull.
If you’re interested in applying for these units, you can do so here.
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