Dive Brief:
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Despite criticism over its separate entrances for owners and low-income tenants, a controversial new multifamily skyscraper has would-be renters lining up at its “poor door.”
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More than 88,000 New Yorkers applied for the Upper West Side tower’s 55 low-rent units, according to The New York Times, even though the separate entrances drew the ire of city officials and housing advocates.
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“I guess people like it,” Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development Co., the project's builder, told The Times. “It shows that there’s a tremendous demand for high-quality affordable housing in beautiful neighborhoods.”
Dive Insight:
Affordable housing is in such demand in Manhattan that would-be tenants can snag city-subsidized units only if they’re lucky enough to win a housing lottery, a system the city uses to assign the apartments. Ten lotteries so far this year have attracted 486,000 applicants for 698 units, The Times reported.
The Extell units go for between $833 a month for a studio, and $1,082 for a two-bedroom.