The three were charged in a massive 78-count indictment with conspiracy, grand larceny, bribe-receiving, and other crimes dating to 2013. Since 1955, the state’s Mitchell-Lama housing program has subsidized the development of some 135,000 affordable housing units in the city, including about 69,000 co-ops. The three defendants are accused of using the money to purchase pricey Florida real estate along with a high-end collection of fur coats, designer handbags, and jewelry. Last year, three Coney Island housing officials were arrested and charged with taking $874,000 in cash bribes to steer deep-pocketed applicants into 18 coveted Mitchell-Lama apartments in the Luna Park Co-op. In at least one development, Queens’ Boulevard Towers, the names of only five of the 20 most recent tenants appeared on the building’s waiting list. “We think it’s deliberate mismanagement of the list.”Īmong the plaintiffs is Kinetta Berry, a Mount Vernon resident who was on the waiting list for a two-bedroom unit in Adee Tower Apartments in the Bronx until she was removed from the list without notice on the false ground that she did not respond when contacted about an available unit, the lawsuit says. “It’s a pervasive corruption at HPD,” said Dennis Kelly, a lawyer for four housing hopefuls who have filed a class-action suit against the city. The lawsuit accuses the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) of ignoring the transgressions – of being “deliberately indifferent since at least 2009, if not earlier.” In the cases of at least four applicants, according to the lawsuit, their numbers came up, but they were never notified, and their dream homes went to someone else, most often to people with ties to the decision makers. Additional information on how to apply and determining your eligibility can be. NYC Housing Connect is a portal for New Yorkers to find and apply for affordable housing opportunities across the five boroughs of New York City. After applying and submitting an application fee, seekers of the coveted apartments are placed on a waiting list or are selected through a lottery process. You may view all currently available affordable housing opportunities by visiting the NYC Housing Connect online portal. You can get a complete list of Mitchell-Lama housing developments, including the names and addresses of the housing development companies and managing agents online or by mail. The Mitchell-Lama program was designed in the 1950s to provide affordable rental and cooperative housing to moderate- and middle-income families throughout New York City and the nation. Many Mitchell-Lama waiting lists are closed because there are already enough applicants to fill expected vacancies. It was created by the Limited Profit Housing Act in 1955, which was championed by Manhattan State Senator MacNeil Mitchell and former Brooklyn Assemblyman Alfred Lama. Applicants to the federally funded affordable Mitchell-Lama housing program have been routinely scratched from a waiting list in favor of well-connected candidates who are paying their way in, according to a new lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court, the New York Daily News reports. The Mitchell-Lama Program provides housing across New York State that is affordable to the middle class.
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