Two NYC social housing co-ops whose residents will vote on whether to privatize their publicly subsidized complexes, and what their choice means forthe American Dream of homeownership for all
The American Dream of homeownership is hazier than it’s ever been. Renters and buyers faceskyrocketing interest rates, historically low inventory, and a record-breaking rent affordability crisis. Social housingprograms that alleviate market stress are few and far betweenand, where they do exist, are usually income-restricted. In Homes for Living, urban planner and oral historian Jonathan Tarleton introduces the longtime residents of two housing co-ops on the brink of significant change.
Made possible by the Mitchell-Lama program in the 1950s, the Saint James Towers and Southbridge Towers are thriving complexes of highly sought-after subsidized middle-class housing. Today, the appeal of privatization and the multimillion-dollar sales it would garner have manufactured a divide among neighbors. Privatization would remove these apartments from the social housing pool and allow residents to sell their units for millions of dollars on the free market. It would also disadvantage owner-occupied units and shatter any hope of future access to affordable housing.
Pro- and anti-privatization campsemerge, pitting neighbor against neighbor in the fight for or against the commodification of American housing. With a deft hand for mapping personal historiesatop the greater housing crisis, Tarleton explores social housing as a public good, tenant rights, Indigenous sovereignty, questions of race and class, and what neighbors owe each other.
