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February 16, 2011
Quinn proposes one-stop shop for affordable housing (which takes Ratner out of the loop)
Atlantic Yards Report
If City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has her way, people who seek affordable housing in Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project won't have to go through the developer (and be solicited to be a project advocate).
Rather, there will be a one-stop shop. From Quinn's State of the City address yesterday:
In fact, if you were to rank the biggest problems in New York City based on the number of calls and emails we get at the Council, then housing would be number one.
We can’t keep New York City a place that is growing and diverse if people of every income can’t find an affordable place to live. And when I say a place that’s affordable, I don’t mean a place that’s falling apart.
So let’s talk about one of the most frequent housing calls we get. Even as we work to create more affordable units, New Yorkers tell us it’s incredibly difficult to access the ones we’ve already built.
That’s because in a 21st century world - where you can do everything online - we still make people apply for housing using 18th century technology.
If you want to enter an affordable housing lottery, in most cases you actually have to send a postcard to the developer – of each individual building - then wait for them to mail you the paperwork, fill it out and mail it back.
So we came up with a common sense solution – a one stop online application for affordable housing.
Posted by eric at February 16, 2011 10:32 AM