Keeping Starrett City Affordable

NY State lawmakers are working on legislation that would guarantee rent subsidies that keep Brooklyn public housing project Starrett City affordable, no matter who owns it in the future. Real estate group Clipper Equities has been rebuffed twice in efforts to buy Starrett City, because it was expected the company would attempt to remove long-time residents and charge higher rents. While the legislation is being crafted in Albany in the State Assembly, U.S. Senator from New York Charles Schumer expressed his support while speaking from the bully pulpit.

"To both the prospective buyer and the seller, work with us because you’re not going to be able to succeed if you work against us,” said Schumer. “I believe the buyer gets that, but the seller doesn't and the seller has got to learn that. And that's one of the reasons this legislation is so important."

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver joined Sen. Schumer and said that the legislation was necessary to prevent the city from becoming too expensive for the firefighters, police, teachers, and nurses who work in New York, skillfully ingratiating himself with four unions in a single sentence.

Photograph by Adam Rountree/AP