Miracle Mitchell-Lama housing developments seek preservation plan
New bill would curb abuses found on pro-private boards
A Mitchell-Lama Reform Bill sponsored by State Sen. Brian Kavanaugh (D-Brooklyn Heights-DUMBO-Williamsburg-Greenpoint-Lower Manhattan) and Manhattan Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal has passed both Houses and now heads for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk, the two sponsors announced Tuesday.
The bill, A.7272/S.6412, would increase transparency in Mitchell-Lama co-op boards, require more frequent board meetings, eliminate voting by proxy and raise the threshold needed for a co-op to leave the program.
The Mitchell-Lama Program, which began in 1955, was formed to build subsidized middle-income housing, both rental and co-op, as a way of keeping middle-income residents in the city. A total of 269 Mitchell-Lama developments were built during the program’s heyday in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.