Today the New York Times reported that a $1 million grant was utilized by the Furman Center to create an interactive online database of subsidized housing by location and other criteria.
The web address for those interested is: http://datasearch.furmancenter.org/
I have been playing with the database since I got my copy of the times today (the article is on Page 2 of the Real Estate Section of the Sunday New York Times - 10-23-2011). So you don't think I'm crazy, I should mention that 1/2 of the Sunday NY Times gets delivered on Saturday so that the delivery people are able to manage. Otherwise, they'd be carrying 10 pound newspapers every Sunday.
A few clicks on the website and you'll find yourself down to the neighborhood level. For example, clicking into Brooklyn Heights in Brooklyn, and then clicking on one of the spots, you'd find "Cadman Towers". The information includes the fact that it has 442 units, is owned by Cadman Towers, Inc. and has a portfolio that includes a J-51 Real Estate Tax Exemption, Mitchell-Lama Housing Status (too difficult to explain in one Blog, but maybe the source of a separate blog), an HDC Mortgage and Section 223(f) exemptions.
These exemptions sound like a foreign language to anyone who hasn't dealt with the NYC Housing Stock. And, to me, it is a shame that we have to learn all about these terms. Each is another handout from the city to lower the cost of housing, most often in buildings like the one just mentioned by a 'lottery' system. However, study after study prove, and cities that move away from subsidized housing show, that prices fall when subsidized housing is removed. That's because of simple supply and demand. The Furman database track an incredible 235,000 affordable housing units in its database. That's 235,000 units where an owner cannot charge market rent and where lucky tenants get to pay less than those less fortunate. The less fortunate have artificially increased rents because one-quarter million housing units are unavailable to them to rent.
Either way, the purpose of this isn't to spark a debate about subsidized housing, but rather to point out a great new use of technology and the Internet for those of us working as brokers and appraisers within the City of New York.
I hope you find it useful.
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