New Q.W. Housing Not Affordable, Protesters Say
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Councilman Eric Gioia joined local leaders, community groups, and housing advocates recently at a rally on the Queens waterfront, calling on the City to create more affordable housing for Queens residents in Long Island City.

Alarmed and annoyed that some 60 percent of Queens residents may not qualify to move into 5,000 planned affordable housing units to be built on the Hunters Point waterfront, a diverse group of community activists called on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to change the rules and modify the criteria so that some of them can become residents of the much-needed housing.

However, a spokesman for the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) disagreed with the group's contentions and said their criticism of the housing plan was not warranted.

At the core of the dispute are the 5,000 units of affordable housing the Bloomberg administration plans to build along the East River waterfront in Long Island City.

Under the plan, the 5,000 units would be available for families earning $60,000 to $145,000 a year. The 24-acre building site is in the Queens West development and is to be purchased from the Port Authority by the city for $146 million.

Protesters of the plan-social service agencies, housing advocates, community and civic groups-based their opposition on a study released by the Pratt Center for Community Development which said that 60 percent of Queens residents make less than $60,000 a year, the minimum threshold for a family of four to rent an apartment in the planned project.

The Reverend Lancelot Waldron, pastor of the Corona Congregational Church, said at the protest rally that many of his church members don't earn that kind of money.

"Many people who have two and three jobs, they do not make $60,000 a year," Waldron said. "So we want to appeal to all the elected officials, we want to appeal to the mayor, to make New York City have housing for all of its people."

Waldron's assertions were disputed by Neill Coleman, an HPD spokesman. He said the $60,000 minimum income was based on a family of four and that the minimum salary would drop for families with fewer people, including singles who would have to make $45,000 to qualify.

But Brad Lander, director of the Pratt Center, who was present at the protest rally, told reporters that the city should consider that more than half of Queens residents, even two-salary households with children, earn less than the threshold.

Lander said average rents in Queens, the city's most overcrowded borough, rose 7 percent between 2002 and 2005, while at the same time median household incomes dropped 6 percent, from $48,162 to $45,000.

Lander said his analysis was based on the city's October 19 announcement regarding the Queens West housing plan. He said it stipulated only that incomes would range from $60,000 to $145,000 for families of four. But, he noted, an average single teacher with children won't qualify based on current median income levels.

Coleman still maintained that the criticism was not warranted because housing advocates have been urging the city for a long time to create affordable housing for middle-income families, instead of just low-income families.