‘Poor door’ no more: Here’s an easy fix.

Leonard Grunstein recently contributed to Crain’s New York Business, suggesting rent vouchers as an answer to New York’s affordable housing crisis and the recent “poor door” controversy. The “poor door” concept, which suggested a separate entrance for subsidized tenants at an Upper West Side luxury building, was a widely criticized suggested policy.

According to Grunstein, suggestion of this policy should come at no surprise. Having affordable and luxury housing units on the same site would allow developers to receive tax abatements so long as 20% of a building’s units are kept below market rate.

This does not need to be the only solution; however, and Grunstein suggests the use of rent vouchers to help families struggling to afford it. Rather than requiring more affordable units, the city must address the underlying problem: rents are out of reach for many hardworking families. This can be alleviated with rent vouchers that low-income tenants would use at apartments throughout the city like any other tenant, instead of being relegated to “poor units.”

The budget for the vouchers could be funded by requiring developers to pay into a city-administered trust fund, with contributions that were comparable to the cost of constructing affordable units. This change can more effectively align housing policy with need.

Tagged: Affordable Housing, New York City