No one denies that NYC could use more affordable housing. Democratic front-runner Fernando Ferrer, however, seems to be off the deep end on how to accomplish that noble objective.
His solution? Jack property taxes $1 billion dollars over 10 years to fund the creation of 167,000 public housing units.
Dumb.
Why? Because landlords pass the cost of maintaining property onto their renters. If property taxes rise, landlords will raise rents, thereby displacing those middle-class New Yorkers who are already hanging by a thread.
So in other words, what Ferrer wants to do is raise rents on middle-class New Yorkers to fund the creation of public housing for those same middle-class New Yorkers who can longer afford their apartments because their rent was raised to build public housing.
Huh?
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