Remember how there are still thousands of residences struggling to recover from Hurricane Sandy, even three years after the devastating hurricane?
Yeah, well, more than two thirds of the new affordable housing planned for Queens will be built on the Rockaway peninsula, a flood zone that's, by and large, still recuperating from Hurricane Sandy, according to DNAinfo.
Let us put that in perspective for you: there are 500 units proposed in seven construction projects in Queens.
319 (or 64%) of these units are to be built in Rockaway.
The three projects are as follows: a 154-unit apartment for seniors in Bayswater, a 101-unit building in Edgemere, and a 64-unit apartment building in Rockaway beach.
The other construction projects will take place in Jamaica, Rochdale, and South Jamaica.
All these construction projects are part of Mayor de Blasio's plan to build or save 200,000 units of affordable housing throughout the next ten years. The city is undertaking a massive rezoning to meet this goal.
Building all this affordable housing is a worthy aim. We're all about it, especially in the wake of New York City's staggering climate of homelessness.
However, building most of these units in a flood zone is little more than a bad idea.
Let's think about it: Who are the people who are still down and out from Sandy? Surely not those wealthy enough to afford private home insurance.
Absolutely not. The people who are still struggling to rebuild their homes, the thousands living in partly reconstructed homes, are the ones who were relying on (and were in large part let down by) the aid of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In fact, just this past August 11,000 homeowners asked FEMA to reevaluate their insurance claim, because they believed their claims were underpaid.
The New York Times said this number was "scary low," and that most homeowners were too tired of dealing with the government's procedures and paperwork to continue to battle for Sandy reparation funds.
Who will it be that's relying on FEMA if another hurricane hits? Clearly, the people living in New York City Housing Authority apartments. Obviously, people who are living in affordable housing won't be able to afford pricey private home insurance.
During Hurricane Sandy, high-rise buildings in Rockaway peninsula were left powerless. Many elderly residents were stranded in apartments on higher floors because their elevators didn't work, and they couldn't walk down the stairs.
After Sandy, new building codes and regulations were enforced. Utilities are no longer in basements and buildings are built more durably, but still, Dr. Klaus Jacob, a climate expert at Columbia University, says these measures won't be enough.
"The access to the [apartment] units will become intermittent as time progresses and oceans rise, and eventually, the lowest units will be jeopardized, at latest by the latter part of this century, if not earlier during severe storms," Jacob said.
Jacob's tone of certainty makes sense. A study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences in July of 2015 found that hurricanes are much more likely in NYC than they were a century ago.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, hurricanes only occurred every 500 years or so. Now, they're likely to come with force and power every 25 years.
The de Blasio administration says they're taking steps to protect Rockaway peninsula.
"Every community - the Rockaways included - deserves affordable hosing to meet its needs," said mayoral spokesman Wiley Norvel.
"We are determined to invest in our coastal neighborhoods to keep them vibrant, diverse, and affordable, and ensure the seniors who built those communities can continue to call them home."
Like we said, we're all about the city investing in more affordable housing. We're just pretty sure we should look to build this housing in areas that aren't at high risk for hurricanes. Is that just us?
Check out This 'Why I Love NYC' Instagram Sums Up Everything There Is to Love about NYC.
[via DNAinfo]
[Feature Image Courtesy DNAinfo]