Protecting the Public Interest in Public Land

New York City used to be full of vacant land owned by the city – over 100,000 lots by some counts in the 1970s. The reason was simple – private owners simply didn’t think the land was valuable enough to pay taxes on, so the city took it over.

But the New York of 2014 is a vastly different place. We have very few vacant parcels of land left here in New York City, and all of them are extremely valuable. Now the city needs to take a long, hard look before it gives them away.

The city took the right approach recently when it announced that a 25,000 Square Foot city lot on the West Side of Manhattan slated for affordable housing would be sold for one dollar to a local nonprofit, the Clinton Housing Development Corporation.

If the city is going to sell land for a dollar to be developed as affordable housing,making sure it stays permanently affordable should be the first priority. Utilizing our not-for-profit Community Development Corporations is the right way to do this. A $110 million site in a rapidly gentrifying area that is in desperate need of affordable housing is too valuable an asset to be traded away for short-term affordability. You need a mission-driven organization to make sure it doesn’t eventually turn into a cash cow for a private developer down the road. This deal is a win for everyone – the neighborhood gets affordable housing, and the city ensures that the land will be used in the long-term public interest.

Giving hundreds of millions of dollars in free land away to private developers – no matter what the conditions – just doesn’t make sense anymore. There’s no excuse for it, not when there’s other options available. Kudos to the city for getting this one right – let’s hope they continue.