Urbanities,
Vol. 4
·
No 2
·
November 2014
© 2014
Urbanities
57
plan’s lack of effective affordable housing provisions, its potential for displacement of
existing residents and businesses, and its potential impact on the physical character of the
neighbourhood.
Affordability of New Housing and Threats of Displacement
The strongest opposition from residents and civic groups has addressed the lack of guarantees
that new residential development will be within the reach of average Harlem residents.
The median incomes for the zip codes to be affected by the proposal were at approximately 22
thousand dollars in 2007 (Onboard 2007). Since the affordability standard of new
developments at 125
th
Street is measured with respect to the AMI of New York City as a
whole (71,300 dollars in 2007, Onboard 2007), most of the units that are described as
‘affordable’ will be way beyond the reach of existing residents. Despite the misleading
assertion that 46 per cent of the produced units would be ‘income targeted’, by these measures
only 5.18 per cent, or 200 units, out of a proposed 3,858, will be available to households
whose annual incomes are of 30,750 dollars or less
—
the average Harlem resident. As
mentioned earlier (see the sub-section,
The Process Behind the Plan
), these ‘affordable units’
should be produced thanks to inclusionary zoning bonuses. However, since New York’s
inclusionary zoning program is not mandatory, it is questionable how many of these
‘affordable’ units will ever be built. In booming times and in heated property markets, the
majority of developers have generally chosen to opt out of these subsidies, in search of higher
profits from market-rate units (see Pratt 2004).
In addition to worries around the affordability of new developments, concern has
addressed the potential for displacement of existing residents as a result of new housing
developments in the area. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) underestimated the
displacement of Harlem’s existing residents in its conclusion that only ‘500 residents in 190
units […] could be vulnerable to secondary displacement if rents rise as a result of the
proposed action’ (City of New York DCP 2008a: 1.0-6). According to calculations by CB 10,
at least 2,077 currently occupied units will be directly impacted by the rezoning, in addition to
the indirect impacts caused by the development.
The plan also allows for high-density mixed-use developments on lots that were once
restricted to low-density commercial uses, encouraging the building of residential high-rises
of a size never before seen along 125
th
Street. The expansion of luxury development of this
scale threatens existing tenants because of the upward pressures in rental prices. Bailey
(2008), a human rights activist and co-founder of the Harlem Tenants Council,
2
pointed to
the increasing number of residents’ complaints about landlords illegally doubling or tripling
rents, harassing tenants and evicting people to make way for higher-income residents (Tucker
2008); she also referred to reports on family homelessness in New York City showing that
Central Harlem ranked among the top 10 neighbourhoods in the city with the highest
displacement rate (Henry 2005). She described the proposal as ‘a plan that seeks to replace a
2
This is a tenant rights advocacy organization that is active in fighting the displacement of residents
and businesses in the neighbourhood
