MTA Struggles to Relocate Residents

9 September 2009 - 10:00am

As construction on the Second Avenue subway in New York City is set to begin next year, MTA and current residents struggle to answer the question of where to relocate the people in its way.

"Under federal law, the transit authority must find replacement housing deemed 'comparable,' a phrase that officials have interpreted to mean an apartment of a similar size and rent, in the same neighborhood or nearby. If the tenant chooses a more expensive replacement, the authority must pay the difference in the rent for three and a half years.

But New York's real estate market makes this an onerous task. Many of the residents live in rent-regulated units that cost far less than similar ones in the neighborhood. Rents could be an additional $1,000 a month."

Source: The New York Times, September 7, 2009
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But why not just require basic accessibility, such as no-step entrances and wider doorways? It seems off the mark to argue that it's inappropriate to place this kind of requirement on homebuilders.