Photo Courtesy of Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato’s Office
Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (with microphone) has been appointed to an Assembly Mitchell-Lama working group.
By Forum Staff
Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Howard Beach) was recently appointed by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to a working group tasked with identifying and proposing solutions on the most pressing issues affecting limited-profit housing companies, known as Mitchell-Lama housing developments.
The Mitchell-Lama program, sponsored by State Sen. MacNeil Mitchell and Assemblyman Alfred Lama, was signed into law in 1955. According to the City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, it provides affordable rental and cooperative housing to moderate- and middle-income families. There are both city- and state-supervised Mitchell-Lama developments, totaling more than 110,000 units. While some are operated as rentals, most are operated as resident-owned cooperatives, with a board of directors elected by shareholders responsible for policy and financial decisions.
“”Within my district alone there are over 2,800 units of resident-owned Mitchell-Lama cooperatives and for years my office has been inundated with thousands of complaints and concerns relating to this housing,” Pheffer Amato said. When the people speak, it is our job as elected officials to listen. I am excited to begin working on the complex issues and concerns surrounding these developments in order to ensure quality of life for everyone.”
Pheffer Amato noted that new laws call for greater standardization and transparency in application processing, require increased agency reporting on developments leaving the program, allow residents to access financial records relating to their development and expand the pool of applicants eligible for Mitchell-Lama housing by raising admission income limits.
The six member Assembly Mitchell-Lama working group is led by Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Brooklyn).
