Ingersoll Residents Question Affordability Of New Housing
“What do you call affordable?” asked Ingersoll Residents Association President Darold Burgess in reference to the developments rising around the Ingersoll Houses and the proposed affordable housing set-asides.
The Ingersoll Residents Association Meeting was last night at 177 Myrtle Avenue at 6:30pm in the Ingersoll Community Center and while the agenda was varied, the most prominent topic of conversation was the cost of the new affordable housing that’s being built around Fort Greene.
Burgess explained that residents associations across Brooklyn were joining forces to protest the affordable housing schema.
“Just like the town hall meeting last week about the bike lane…. Residents came out in numbers! So what did they do? It’s not happening!” said an impassioned Burgess, referring to the now-tabled proposal for the Clinton Avenue bike lane.
Residents were primarily concerned with how expensive rents would be in the new housing units, as well as how the apartments would be assigned.
As we’ve reported, there are problems with the way the city defines affordable housing:
In this case, “affordable housing” is defined as 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), which currently (for 2015) is $51,780 for a family of four. New York City’s AMI is $86,300.
However, the average income level of households at the Ingersoll Houses is $23,889, according to NYCHA. That’s not just far below the city AMI, but also far below the AMI for the Community Board 2 neighborhood ($71,754), which is skewed because it includes Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights.
Additionally, the changing character of the neighborhood undergirded the broader conversation.
“Living here, it’s nice but it does change a lot, especially financially, due to these new stores, supermarkets, restaurants that are more popular and trendy,” said resident Dante Cunningham.
Cunningham connected the day’s discussion to the broader trends towards gentrification, that people in the area would have trouble affording with necessities like grocery shopping.
“It just seems kind of odd, in a way, if we’re trying to help this community, trying to be more affordable for folks who are fixed-incomes or have low-income jobs, or trying to help people eat healthy and then there are supermarkets with a little bit higher price on food and they can’t really afford it due to their payments. It’s a problem for some people,” added Cunningham.
Burgess said he would have more information following a meeting with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) on Friday.
Other major items included visits from community stakeholders, job opportunities at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, NYCHA’s Next Generation program, and building repairs and upgrades such as cameras.
Denise Peterson from from the Kings County District Attorney’s office stopped by. Peterson discussed the “Begin Again” program scheduled for June 11 from 9am to 3pm at 1405 Bushwick Avenue, which is allows citizens to have summons warrants cleared. She also announced an immigration forum on June 18, from 10am to 3pm.
District Leader Olanike Alabi also spoke, announcing her spring town hall as well as upcoming elections. Alabi announced that there will be no election for the district in June, but that elections would be held in September.
The transformative development of the Brooklyn Navy Yard was also a central point of discussion.
“The new revitalization of the Navy Yard will be high-tech,” explained Burgess to the crowd.
A handout that was circulated advertised an upcoming recruitment event on May 26 at 1:30pm at Building 92 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Job seekers are instructed to wear business attire and to bring their résumés
Finally, Burgess was proud to announce that he’d been honored by NYCHA’s Next Generation as a leader. His declaration was met with hearty applause.
