N.J. Burkett reports from Lower Manhattan.
It's hard to imagine that right after 9-11, vacancy rates in some
neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan were as high as 40 percent. Imagine it,
40 percent vacancy rates in some parts of New York City. At the time many
people believed that few people would want to live here.
But it's safe to say that that is no longer an issue -- in nearly two
years' time, rents are way up. After all, if every one-bedroom apartment
cost $2,500 a month, Lower Manhattan would look and feel like a different
place.
The problem now is keeping these neighborhoods affordable for
working-class families.
So this morning the U.S. Secretary for Housing and Urban Development
introduced a plan to do just that.
Mel Martinez, HUD Secretary: "It is going to provide a place for
teachers, for policemen, for firefighters for the people who make a
community tick to be able to live also where they work."
The federal government will provide $50 million in incentives to
developers who agree to give over 20 percent of their new buildings to
affordable housing. The result, 315 apartments in four projects yet to be
built, in a development zone that includes Chinatown and all of Lower
Manhattan south of Canal Street.
The rents on the new units will look like this:
But housing advocates say that's not nearly enough.
Bettina Damiani, Good Jobs New York: "Up until now, no affordable
housing has been built with 9/11 resources. None. And today they offer us
$50 million and about 300 units. That's a drop in a big empty bucket."
People in Lower Manhattan we spoke with say the government needs to do
something.
The buildings will not be fully constructed for at least another 18
months. Developers will be required to advertise in local newspapers, and
the lucky tenants will be chosen by a lottery.
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