Letter: Farmingdale plan not so affordable
Bartone Plaza development proposed by a master plan to revitalize the Village of Farmingdale in 2012. Credit: Bartone Properties Llc
As a tenant of the Bartone Properties building, our organization's community center, La Casa Comunal, has been asked to vacate the premises on South Front Street ["Farmingdale plan OK'd," News, May 8].
The new South Front Street project will create 115 apartments above retail space. Farmingdale Village residents need affordable housing.
Affordable housing has three categories: low income, very low income and extremely low income. As mentioned in the editorial ["A step forward for Farmingdale," May 7], 10 percent of those 115 apartments will be assigned as affordable housing. These renters will pay $1,425 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, or $1,680 for two bedrooms. How affordable are these rates for someone in Farmingdale who falls within the extremely low income category, which is 30 percent of Farmingdale's household median income of $77,000?
Unless the owner will be accepting Section 8 federal housing subsidies as partial payment for these rentals, he is not providing affordable housing for people with extremely low incomes.
Janet Liotta, Farmingdale
Editor's note: The writer is head of Farmingdale Citizens for Viable Solutions, a grassroots advocacy organization.
