Roosevelt Island's Mitchell Lama Westview Building Rent Hike Update - Some Think It Is Reasonable Others Scared They Will Lose Their Homes

Image of Roosevelt Island's Westview Entrance

In response to this earlier post questioning the need and wisdom of raising the rent of residents in Roosevelt Island's Mitchell Lama Westview building by 14% when the rest of NYC tenants are seeing their rents go down significantly, I received comments by some who think that the rent hikes are justified. For example, one reader wrote:

"Hardship and difficulties"? I know quite a few Westview residents and they all can afford a 14% rent increase easily. The household income requirements for an apartment in Island House or Westview are so lenient and the rents are still on the low side considering the size of the apartments compared to the market rate apartments on Roosevelt Island.

I am on the waiting list to get into one of the buildings and the only motivation is to save money on rent (not because it's the only way I can afford an apartment). Now I will save a little less but will still save some.

And another:

Subsidized housing for middle class families is somehow a funny thing. The rents at Westview and Island House are not really "cheap" and for the same price you can have a decent life a little farther away from Manhattan (most places in the outer boroughs or even all the way uptown in Manhattan). Is having a place close to Manhattan as much a right as affordable housing in general is? Not sure about this.

Also:

A) The rents would not have increased so dramatically if earlier rent increases had been larger and more frequent. The efforts of WTI to "fight" tooth and nail any increase whatsoever over the past 30 years has drained the building of money needed for major repairs and maintenance. It is all well and good to earmark funds for capital repairs when a budget is approved, but when electric prices (Westview is an all-electric bldg) shoot up after a rent increase is put into place, where do you think the funds come from to pay for it?

B) WTI was very vocal in the past about submetering to save on electric costs. After Eastwood's publicized experience with it, however, WTI has been curiously quiet on the topic.

C) Do you think for a moment that with all the eyes on this rent increase process that DHCR would impose an arbitrary and capricious increase without basis in fact? And as far as this being the most expensive ML in the program, how many MLs have master-metering that includes building-supplied AC's? Aside from next door, none. So don't compare apples and oranges.

D) As far as gratuitous statements by elected politicians go, they know where their votes come from. So they have no problem commiserating and making public pronouncements against every rent increase ever proposed - they do this all the time, with no exceptions. If their pleas were heeded every time, rents in all MLs would now be free. They do not seem to ever get how ignorant they sound when they say these things. Witness the health care debate...

There are others frightened to death at the possibility of losing their homes.

According to the Westview Task Force:

... A rent adjustment of 14.9% was ordered by DHCR effective Sept 1. Wording of DHCR Order and RY letter are confusing but the bottom line is that a determination was made by DHCR to increase average monthly rent per room from $344.13 to $395.45 (a $51.32 increase or precisely 14.9%). A similar rent increase was implemented at Island House about 6 months ago...