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December 13, 2006
Fair Market Rent, 2006
This is from an email that is making the rounds on the anti-Atlantic Yards party line (we have several copies so please stop sending it to us). Since it makes a good point about the affordability of "low-cost" housing here in Brooklyn, we thought that we'd put it up to give others a chance at reading it. The author is Brooklyn activist Philip DePaolo.
A 1,300-unit apartment complex "The Edge," In Williamsburg Brooklyn which will span over one million square feet and feature huge out of scale towers. Rents for the low-budget units have been set at $1,100 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. This is not affordable housing, but basically fair market rent apartments. Brooklyn FMR is $1,189mo. "Brooklyn Community Board1 has an average AMI of $30,000 in what was a traditionally working class neighborhood. Who are these apartments aimed at? A family with a $30,000 a year budget can't touch these apartments, or a huge chunk of their income would go towards paying the rent.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2006 the average yearly salary in Brooklyn hovered just above $35,000 per year. And according to this report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition , the average rent in Brooklyn was $1,189 for a two-bedroom apartment. The 2006 Average Renter Income in Brooklyn was $31,135Yr . The Annual Income Needed to Afford Fair Market Rent is 47,560 for a two Bedroom Apt or $22.87hr Housing wage. The average renter wage per hour in Brooklyn is $13.56.
Look at the numbers and then look at what the city is pitching as “Affordable Housing”
The link [to the National Low Income Housing Coalition] will allow you to look up any county in NYC.
NoLandGrab: Critics of Atlantic Yards make a similar point. Project proponents have since retreated from calling the housing plan "affordable" and have repackaged it as "low- and middle-income housing," though it is still weighted towards the upper-income tiers.
Posted by lumi at December 13, 2006 7:50 AM