To the Editor
Re “C.B. 1 nears completion of affordable housing guide” (news article, May 11)
I live in Southbridge Towers, a Mitchell-Lama Co-op. Aline Reynolds reports the completion by CB 1 of an Affordable Housing Task Force Guide for Lower Manhattan that is “rooted in affordable housing.” When I applied in 1980 for an apartment, Southbridge was the only “affordable” option and I waited 9 years for a one-bedroom apartment. By then many apartments became expensive condos, rent control was gone and had been replaced by rent guidelines that have become increasingly less affordable.
There is the need to protect Mitchell-Lama developments from privatization since the Department of Housing and Community Renewal permitted them to vote for privatization, violating the spirit of the M-Lama law since maintenance (rent) would increase sharply. We must demand from Albany that cooperators (particularly seniors) should be allowed to remain as renters at the same maintenance level we now enjoy.
David Silver
