Why are we tearing down viable affordable housing to be replaced by luxury condos? Where are all the City of Yes cheerleaders who pushed for build, build, build? Did they really think developers would willingly spare existing housing in order to build new? That is what is happening all over the city and no one seems to be lifting a finger to stop it. The replacements are always luxury. The existing number of rent stabilized apartments falls daily.
Ironically, the only places where developers are somewhat constrained are designated historic districts. No wonder the development community loathes landmark designations. They’ve opposed the designation of every historic district since the 1970s.
The poster child for this seems to be the Upper East Side, probably because a local group, Friends of the Upper East Side, is keeping track. For example:
1045 Madison Ave., 14 luxury units replaced four row houses with 13 affordable units and nine street-level commercial tenants occupied by small local businesses.
At 355 E. 86th St., a pristine row of four-story upgraded redbrick tenements with street-level stores was demolished for a 23-story high-rise with an unknown number of apartments, none of them affordable.
On Third Ave. and 75th St., 43 affordable units and four ground-floor stores are being replaced by 38 apartments in a new luxury building.
Yorkville is experiencing dozens like this. Some of these lost units were rent stabilized; not necessarily cheap but affordable.
On the Upper West Side, 15 W. 96th, a 321 foot tower with 21 expensive condos replaced three landmark-quality five-story townhouses with 30 rental units. Rumor has it that a whole blockfront of former tenements there will soon be on the chopping block. A high-rise with expensive condos will follow.
The occupants of these lost apartments are just the kind the city is losing to the suburbs or New Jersey. They have no choice.
Developers argue that these buildings are not financially sustainable. But they come with all sorts of tax benefits and always seem to find a buyer.
Yorkville is just the poster child for this phenomenon. A 2020 study of affordable housing loss by George James and Associates of just Manhattan rent-stabilized units from 2007 to 2020 shows a net loss of 14,438 stabilized units on the Upper East Side and 11,127 stabilized units on the Upper West Side, the two highest amongst the community board study areas.
And every Manhattan neighborhood showed a loss, with a total of 37,466 units net loss overall. No study has yet been made of the other boroughs. The recent Midtown South rezoning opens additional floodgates for this trend. The area is filled with distinguished old apartment buildings filled with stabilized and otherwise affordable units on sites now zoned for luxury towers.
A new effort is emerging in the City Council to put the brakes on this unnecessary loss of existing affordable housing. A bill supported by Council members Gale Brewer, Sandy Nurse and Chris Marte would require developers to provide as many affordable units as they are tearing down for a luxury high rise. Affordable, of course, by the current formula is not as affordable as what is being lost. But it would be a start.
Lost with all these affordable housing units are the small local businesses that often occupy street-level stores. Many of them are run by families for generations. Residents often depend on them.
This all adds up to a more expensive city and a continuing loss of middle-income taxpayers.
Gratz is an award-winning journalist and author of several books about cities.
