Front doors are for the rich in these buildings.

[august948]

Ran across this on MSN...

 

http://money.msn.com/investing/post--front-doors-are-for-the-rich-in-these-buildings

 

 

Yet in the country's largest city, which recently elected a mayor who ran on a platform that derided income inequality, the issue is getting more and more visible -- especially for some of New York's lower-income residents living in buildings that segregate them from their rich neighbors. 

 

That's right: So-called "poor doors" (or separate entrances for poor people, usually located in the back of the building, out of view from the upper-class tenants) are increasingly common among New York's swanky residential buildings that house the superrich alongside a handful of low-income people in order to get tax credits from the city. 

 

Last week, the New York Department of Housing Preservation and Development approved a request by a swanky new condo on the Upper West Side to have a separate entrance in a back alley for its lower income residents (in New York City that means people with an annual income of $51,540 or less). 

 

The front doors, meanwhile, will be reserved for wealthy tenants only. 

 

The proposal was part of an application for the city's Inclusionary Housing Program, which gives tax credits and other benefits to big real estate developers in exchange for offering some affordable housing units in addition to their pricey condos.

 

Think this will come to Houston at some point?

 

[Subdude]

Servants' entrances of course, but I can't imagine Houston enacting tax credits for buildings that accommodate both rich and poor. 

[mollusk]

Separate doors may not return as a result of tax credits... but we did have them at one time ourselves, until the early 60s.