AFFORDABLE HOUSING PLAN LEAVES QUEENS OUT
By MICHAEL CLANCY, EDITOR
am NewYork
January 15, 2007

When the City Council expanded a law last month giving tax breaks to developers who build affordable housing, the vote was celebrated as a win for working families in Brooklyn and Manhattan. But as the council's bill heads to Albany for final approval in the state Legislature, many Queens residents are asking "What about us?"

"Queens got shut out," said Msgr. Paul Sanchez, the pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Astoria, who is part of a coalition seeking more affordable housing in Queens. "The majority of people in Queens have been left out of the equation ... and the tax breaks went straight to the developers."

After months of debate, the council approved a compromise plan in December to expand a law tying tax breaks with affordable housing to include all of lower Manhattan, parts of Harlem, large sections of Brooklyn, and sliver of Queens along the waterfront.

Many working class Queens neighborhoods -- such as most of Long Island City, Corona, and Astoria -- were left untouched in the legislation and developers will continue to get tax breaks to build luxury housing there with no affordable units required.

"Why in a neighborhood with an average income of $30,000 do we need to spur development of million-dollar condos," asked Jaime Weisberg, of Queens Congregations United for Action, a tenants advocacy group. "Sure, we need to encourage development but it has to be affordable for people in the community."

Weisberg says Queens is chockfull of projects that give big breaks to developers while offering no public good for local residents.

On Queens Plaza North in Long Island City, advocates point to View 59, a 10-story building with 22 market-rate condos priced between $459,000 and $845,000, will be eligible for $2 million in tax breaks, according to the Pratt Center for Community Development. Around the corner from View 59 on 27th Street, The Plaza offers 66 condos, ranging from $445,000 to $1 million while qualifying for $6.2 million in tax breaks, according to Pratt.

Though the council and Mayor Michael Bloomberg will ask the Legislature to approve the version of the new tax law as passed by the council, housing activists may get their wish in Albany.

"I'd love to see it go citywide," said Assemb. Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn), who chairs the Assembly Housing Committee, and will hold great sway over the final bill. About 75 percent of the city is not covered by the affordable-housing program, and "I believe there are at least seven or eight communities that should also be."

Lopez would not name which communities he would add, but said he'd also like to change other provisions of the law, perhaps expanding the affordability component to 30 percent, as well as adding a statutory preference toward local residents to give them first crack at those apartments. He will hold public hearings next month.

Councilman Eric Gioia, the Queens Democrat who represents Long Island City, Corona, and other Queens neighborhoods left out of the council's plan, said the tax incentives have had a positive effect in Long Island City.

"We've made a market and that's a good thing," said Gioia. "The time is now on the waterfront and that's what we've done. As you get off the waterfront, I don't know the perfect answer."

Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.