SAVE MARKHAM GARDENS

We the undersigned do petition to express our deep concern regarding the City's plan to demolish 360 low income public housing rental units at Markham Gardens, a 61 year old public housing development under the purview of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). Markham Gardens is a community of long time working Staten Islanders with a distinguished history of service to this borough.

We acknowledge that there are physical plant issues that must be addressed. However, the reuse of these units after reconstruction and renovation is of major concern to us. The proposed new units have been identified as targeting moderate to middle income homeowners. This change in housing designation will prevent most of the current residents from re-entering the development. Staten Island has a profound need for low income rental units. The current proposal will result in a loss of rental housing on Staten Island for the desperately housing needy, with no plan to replace, let alone expand the number of units that will be available and affordable to low income tenants. The current plan destroys a community of Staten Island residents who will no longer qualify to return under the newly proposed guidelines. The HUD subsidies that have sustained these 360 public housing apartments will be lost by Staten Island. Our borough is already experiencing a profound housing crisis. Staten Island cannot afford to lose even one subsidized public housing unit.

The situation of Markham Gardens has already negatively affected NYCHA applicants citywide in that those eligible cannot secure housing due to the warehousing of NYCHA apartments for the relocation of Markham Garden residents.

We petition you to intervene immediately in this serious situation, stop this current plan and meet with our community leaders to come up with alternatives that will ultimately preserve the integrity of the Markham Gardens community and preserve 360 public housing rental units for the most housing-needy on Staten Island.