Saturday, June 5, 2010

More than 4,000 vacant NYC condos could be made into low-income housing

The New York City chapter of the Right to the City Alliance has issued a report documenting the thousands of vacant condominium units in the city that could be converted into housing for individuals in need.

Funded by the Sociological Initiatives Foundation, the report, People Without Homes and Homes Without People: A Count of Vacant Condos in Select NYC Neighborhoods (72 pages, PDF), found that there are more than four thousand vacant condo units in nine New York City neighborhoods that could be made into low-income housing.

The report lays out several policy recommendations for the city's Department of Finance, the Empire State Development Corporation, the Mayor, and the City Council on how to covert and maintain the units as part of a broader effort to better serve the city's low-income individuals.