New York Housing Commissioner Deborah Van Amerongen said Saturday that her office would reject a $1.3 billion bid to buy Brooklyn’s Starrett City complex – the nation’s largest subsidized housing complex. The state currently holds Starrett City’s $234 million mortgage, which Clipper Equity has twice attempted to purchase.
Starrett City’s 6,000 apartments are occupied by 12,000 people, about of a third of whom pay between $200 and $400 in rent. Citizen Housing and Planning Council research shows the majority of Starrett tenants earn less than 80 percent of the city’s median income, The Brooklyn Rail reported.
Van Amerongen told Associated Press the offer was rejected "because we don’t believe it protects the residents." She said the purchase price would require larger government subsidies to ensure rents stayed below market price.
Sen. Charles Schumer said the federal government would not sacrifice public housing for the sake of profit, NY1 radio reported. "We have to keep it middle class," Schumer said. "New York City depends on middle class housing because it depends on a middle class workforce to keep our city growing."
After the December 2006 announcement that the Starrett was for sale, ACORN held a 300-person rally in January and a 1,000-person rally in February chanting the slogan "We Shall Not Be Moved."
Three hundred ACORN members turned out to meet HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson during his New York visit and on March 2, HUD blocked the sale, citing affordability as the reason, The Brooklyn Rail reported.
The rejection of Clipper’s bid sends a "clear message that developers intent on exploiting government subsidies for windfall profits need not apply," said Bertha Lewis, executive director of New York ACORN.
See more information about ACORN's involvement with Starrett City.