12 AUGUST 30, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Keep Queens aff ordable for all families
Last week, the Department of
Buildings released a rather
revealing map that shows more
than just active construction projects
across the fi ve boroughs.
A closer look found that 21 million
square feet of apartment space is going
up right here in Queens, accounting
for just over 10 percent of the 200
million square feet of building space
being created across the city. That
reflects the high demand for new
housing units in the borough, and the
potential for further growth.
And yet, another report released
by StreetEasy found that rents in
Queens are spiking particularly in
areas where more families call home.
For example, Elmhurst rents, on average,
jumped about 36 percent year
over year.
Raising a family in Queens is hard
enough with all the normal costs associated
with child-rearing. Parents
sacrifi ce a great deal and work harder
and harder to earn enough to support
their children and provide them with
the essentials of life — food, clothing
and shelter.
Many families teeter on the edge of
financial failure due to the rising cost of
housing in this borough. Most find themselves
priced out of the market, and forced
to move to cheaper areas of the city or state;
some, unfortunately, have nowhere else
to go, and wind up becoming part of the
city’s ever-growing homelessness crisis.
Imagine what it must feel like for a
working mom or dad to aff ord food and
clothes for their kids, but not a place to
live — and being ultimately forced to stay
either with other relatives or friends, or
live in a shelter. It’s a horrible choice that
no parent should have to make.
Families in Queens ought to be able
to aff ord a home of their own here in
Queens. While “aff ordable housing”
units are oft en reserved in many of
the new developments going up in
the borough, not everyone meets the
fi nancial criteria to qualify for aff ordable
apartments.
The city and state need to do more
to make Queens more aff ordable for
everyone. In addition to tweaking
aff ordable housing criteria to include
more working families in new developments,
our lawmakers at City Hall and
in Albany must fi nd a way to institute
new programs to deal with escalating
rents — either with new regulations
aimed at preventing rental spikes or
with subsidies to help working families
stay in their homes.
Let’s not shut out Queens families.
Let’s do what we can to help them live,
work and grow here in the greatest
borough on Earth.
EDITORIAL
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The Q52/Q53 select bus service route will see
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Bay Boulevards this month.
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Take a look inside the authentic
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A new restaurant opening this weekend
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