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Proposed Multifamily At 4510 Main St.


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  • 8 months later...

Affordable Housing Project on Tap for Midtown

 

Plans for a 327-unit "Light Rail Workforce Housing" complex at 4510 Main were presented to the City Council's Housing and Community Affairs Committee on Tuesday. The project, including some ground-floor retail, would target renters who earn up to 120 percent of the local median family income, currently $69,300.
 

"The goal is to preserve affordable housing before the gentrification wave," said Jocklynn Keville, spokeswoman for the city's Housing and Community Development Department. "These inner-Loop areas are becoming out of reach."

City Council later this year will consider allotting $3 million for the land acquisition and pre-development costs. If approved, developer Cantell-Anderson Cloudbreak Communities would build the project with city financing.

Plans for the complex are preliminary. Units will be studios and one-bedrooms. Two-thirds of them would be set aside for people who make no more than 80 percent of the area's median income. But the 120 percent upper-income limit would allow some young professionals to live in the Midtown area, Housing and Community Development director Neal Rackleff said.

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I feel like this whole "affordable" housing is going about it the wrong way. A single person who receives $69K income can already afford a studio apartment at most of the wrap apartments in the loop ALREADY. This project should not receive one cent of tax payer dime. It's not affordable housing.

What they need to do is offer more space, less amenities, less "luxury", and get real families... Not two people sharing 500 square feet. Where is their child going to sleep?

The whole notion that this is "affordable" is a joke. Affordable should not mean less space, it should mean inexpensive amenities & accomodations. When did we suddenly become New York City when something that is affordable is only a studio?

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I feel like this whole "affordable" housing is going about it the wrong way. A single person who receives $69K income can already afford a studio apartment at most of the wrap apartments in the loop ALREADY. This project should not receive one cent of tax payer dime. It's not affordable housing.

What they need to do is offer more space, less amenities, less "luxury", and get real families... Not two people sharing 500 square feet. Where is their child going to sleep?

The whole notion that this is "affordable" is a joke. Affordable should not mean less space, it should mean inexpensive amenities & accomodations. When did we suddenly become New York City when something that is affordable is only a studio?

 

"Two-thirds of them would be set aside for people who make no more than 80 percent of the area's median income."

 

I think that bit of information might make it a bit more palatable, no? As well, the 1/3rd left to individuals making around $70k will most likely subsidize the costs of the other 2/3rd. When people on this board complain about there being so many expensive units opening up, and what will happen to a neighborhood's residents, these are the types of projects that help stymie gentrification.

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"Two-thirds of them would be set aside for people who make no more than 80 percent of the area's median income."

I think that bit of information might make it a bit more palatable, no? As well, the 1/3rd left to individuals making around $70k will most likely subsidize the costs of the other 2/3rd. When people on this board complain about there being so many expensive units opening up, and what will happen to a neighborhood's residents, these are the types of projects that help stymie gentrification.

You're right. The number just seems high for the word affordable. It's like the bare minimum to make it affordable.
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  • 7 months later...
11 minutes ago, Triton said:

It amazes me that Sears store almost has no windows... was crime really that bad in the 70s here? When did they take out the windows?

^^^ well, remember the downtown foley's?  i think that is just the way they built them back in those days.  not to mention, HOUSTON is just so very hot, maybe the climate influenced the architecture of retail establishments to some degree.....

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You're right, not a lot do, but I remember seeing an old pic where this Sears had quite a few windows, especially for displaying the latest fashion. I guess somewhere along the way it got really bad in this area and they installed brick (?) where all the windows existed.

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Actually Foleys had windows all around it on the ground floor where they had all of their window displays. During the holidays they would set up elaborate christmas displays in those windows, as  did Sears until the riots occurred in Detroit in 1967, and there were fears that they would spread. The Sears in San Francisco did the same thing. Maybe it was a company wide edict, but they were afraid that after the riots in Detroit caused so much damage that they wanted to avoid it in other cities. Unfortunately they never took down the facade that covered those windows. 

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