A land use fight has been brewing for the past year in Brooklyn, and it’s about to heat up.
In a city with no limit to opinions, there is one thing we all agree on: we face an affordable housing crisis. Now, in one of the more expensive neighborhoods in Brooklyn — between South Slope and Windsor Terrace — we have an opportunity to build more than 250 units of 100% affordable housing. We think that’s something everyone should agree on too, but it won’t happen unless the City Council takes a stand.
To provide some background: the Arrow Linen Company has owned and operated an industrial laundry for decades on Prospect Ave. between Prospect Park West and 8th Ave. The block and surrounding area are zoned for 3-story housing. Arrow’s owners want to upzone their land and the renter-occupied land next door that they don’t own. Then, they want to build two 13-story luxury buildings with 244 apartments.
They’re proposing to offer the bare minimum number of affordable apartments required under the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing policy — just 61 affordable apartments. The rest would be high-price, luxury rentals.
But we know there’s a better choice for the neighborhood and the city. We’re a group of renters and homeowners called Housing Not High Rises. We asked a reputable nonprofit housing developer to run the numbers. They came up with a proposal to acquire the site for a competitive price and build more than 250 units of permanently affordable apartments in two 7-to-9 story buildings. This proposal was presented to Arrow Linen, with the knowledge of our local elected officials, but rejected as the company wants to hold out for top dollar on their requested upzoning.
Arrow Linen’s profit-driven plan sets a bad precedent for the community and increases displacement threats to nearby renters, who are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts resulting from a luxury development of this scale. High-pressure speculators have already started harassing area residents. Housing Not High Rises has hosted multiple meetings attended by hundreds of community members where renters spoke out about fear of losing their homes.
Sure, under an all-affordable plan Arrow Linen may not be able to sell their land for as much as they would like (although they would still make out handsomely) but if the city is going to create massive value by upzoning then the city also has the right and responsibility to negotiate what is in the city’s and communities’ best interest.
Any development right over existing zoning is up for negotiation. The Arrow Linen rezoning is a prime opportunity to advance community-led affordable housing investments with a proven nonprofit developer. Instead Arrow Linen has partnered with a development firm with zero track record in residential development.
The site has a history of environmental contamination, is at the epicenter of multiple 3K-8 schools, and in a neighborhood that suffers from repeated flooding and broken sewers. The community needs a trusted developer willing to build in partnership with the neighborhood.
As more and more land throughout the city has been rezoned from non-residential to residential use or upzoned from less dense to more dense residential use, it has been City Council members who, leveraging the Council’s land use powers, have stood up for their communities in negotiations with developers and the mayor’s office. Here in our neighborhood, it is Council Member Shahana Hanif who is in the “hot seat.”
Fortunately, she agrees that New Yorkers need affordable housing. She’s a former tenant organizer and co-chair of the Progressive Caucus. Their Homes Now, Homes for Generations Plan says, “It’s time to build permanently-affordable housing that New Yorkers need: the city must deepen its investment in permanently-affordable and community-controlled housing.” That sounds right.
We think development of Arrow Linen’s property presents a tremendous opportunity for community-led investment. It’s an opportunity we hope Hanif and the City Council will take.
Harris, McCabe and Lazarra are leaders of Housing Not High Rises. Lazarra has also for the past 14 years rented her apartment on land that Arrow Linen is proposing to upzone. Olson has rented her apartment for 10 years on the west block over from Arrow Linen. Torres owns a tenant-occupied building on land that Arrow Linen is proposing to upzone.