Another Mitchell-Lama Co-op Considers Leaving the Program

Just days after NYU and CitiBank issued a report on the dismal prospects of homeownership in New York City, shareholders at the massive Village View cooperative in the East Village announced that they’re considering leaving the affordable Mitchell-Lama program and going to market-rate sales.

Robert Sarota, who has lived in Village View for more than 40 years, tells The Villager that he would like to stay in Mitchell-Lama, but understands why some of his neighbors want to cut loose from the program.

“I have a neighbor who would like to leave her son an inheritance,” Sarota says. “But I think we, who are the beneficiaries of this program, are being greedy if we take the money for ourselves. Why should we destroy relatively inexpensive housing for future generations?”

New York City’s rate of homeownership – 31 percent – is slightly less than half the national average, the NYU-Citi report notes, and the loss of the 1,236 affordable units at Village View would make homeownership even less likely for many city residents.

Founded in 1955, the Mitchell-Lama program created more than 105,000 rental and limited-equity co-op apartments for middle-income New Yorkers. Lawmakers recently convened a task force aimed at strengthening support for the program, which is eroding under the force of rising real estate values.