amygrech (amygrech) wrote,
amygrech
amygrech
  • Mood: determined

Affordable Housing is the New Rent Stabilized

I moved to Brooklyn twenty years ago; my family thought it would be a good idea for me to move into my Grandmother's rent controlled apartment in Greenpoint. It wasn't ideal: the windows needed to be replaced, there were roaches and mice; it was on the fourth floor of a walk-up building, which wasn't wired for A/C...Then there was my Grandmother, who thought she had to babysit me, even though I had a full-time job in Manhattan at the time. She complained about me on the phone to my mother weekly. My share of the rent in 1996 was a mere $88.00 a month, which left me plenty of spending money to go out with my friends and explore NYC.  I muddled through a less than ideal situation to establish succession rights; so when my Grandmother had to be moved to a nursing home, the landlord had to continue to rent the apartment to me at a substantially reduced rate.

I stayed there for six years, until I stumbled upon my current rent stabilized apartment in Park Slope. I actually met my Landlady at a workshop for people who had been laid off by Macy's...My current apartment is larger, two bedrooms, I use the smaller of the two as my home office, is pest-free and can accommodate my air conditioner! I've lived here for the past 14 years, but the place is worse for the wear. I had to buy a space heater for my office two years ago because she's too cheap to replace the window. She plans to sell the building soon, so I've applied to several apartments in affordable housing in Manhattan and Brooklyn! It will mean downgrading to a one-bedroom apartment, but somehow I'll manage! These buildings actually have amenities, like a doorman, laundry in the building, etc. I applied to a building in Manhattan nine months ago and am still waiting to hear...I've applied to several other buildings since then. Fingers crossed!


Tags: affordable housing, brooklyn, nyc, rent stabilized apartment
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