City Council Member Laurie A. Cumbo (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights) yesterday joined shareholders and elected officials in rallying against the potential privatization of the St. James Place Towers, 21 Saint James Place, a 326-residential unit complex, which was developed under the state Mitchell-Lama program.
Named for former State Sen. MacNeil Mitchell and former Assemblyman Alfred Lama, the program created in 1955 to provide affordable rental and cooperative housing to moderate- and middle-income families. Currently, there are 95 City-supervised Mitchell-Lamas. However, a total of 62 Mitchell-Lama developments or 19,622 cooperative and rental units have withdrawn from the program since the first buyout in 1989.
The complex was developed under the Mitchell-Lama program and first occupied in 1968. With the mortgage paid in full, the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) regulations require three distinct shareholder votes in order to approve reconstitution. The first vote, to approve the preparation of a feasibility study, occurred in November 2016.
Today, the shareholders will vote on whether to prepare a Plan of Reconstitution or Offering Plan that will be filed with the New York State Attorney General. If accepted for filing, the plan must be distributed to the cooperators who must hold at least one meeting before the final vote on whether to approve the reconstitution. Every vote must be approved by two-thirds of all eligible shareholders.
“After nearly fifty years of affordability, the shareholders of the St. James Place Towers must now make a tremendously difficult decision that will impact the outlook of Clinton Hill for future generations. As gentrification continues to displace long-term area residents, the Mitchell-Lama program is among the few counteractive measures that currently exists to preserve affordable housing for middle-income families. Privatization undermines our city’s commitment to New Yorkers of all background – affordability for all. We must make every attempt to preserve these housing opportunities and ensure that middle-income families can continue to thrive within an ever-changing community,” said Cumbo.
“I am saddened and heartbroken that my 99-year-old mother has no voice in a building that she has resided in for nearly 50 years. Shareholders came to the St. James Towers to enjoy affordable housing and raise their families in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Gentrification has consumed the majority of Brooklyn and pushed out so many low- and middle-income families. St. James Towers is one of the few places left that is beautiful, safe, and affordable. Most shareholders are on a fixed income and cannot afford to opt out of the Mitchell-Lama Program,” said Marlene Steele.
“Today I stand with Councilmember Laurie Cumbo to urge the board of directors at 21 St. James Place to vote no to privatizing this Mitchell-Lama building. The intent of the Mitchell-Lama development program was to ensure that middle-class New Yorkers could have a safe and secure affordable home to raise their families and build a community. This vote would only serve to gut the community of a treasured housing stock and I urge all members to vote no,” said Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights).
In a joint letter, Cumbo and Mosley emphasized how tenants’ rights would be impacted under the conversion of the units. Privatization could result in major rent increases for those currently paying below market rate; apartments would be sold at high prices, which would harm the neighborhood and displace community members who have lived in the building for many years; and rent increases would no longer be regulated by the city, they wrote.
“To lose 21 Saint James Place to privatization would be a major step backwards for our community and for our efforts to preserve and create affordable housing. Mitchell-Lama provided permanently affordable housing for a whole generation of working class families and in this case, the pride and influence that comes with being a stakeholder in a thriving community as well. We have a responsibility to ensure affordability for the next generation as well, especially in an environment where the cost of housing has risen exponentially with no end in sight,” said State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Boerum Hill)
