I was offered a chance to move into a supportive housing semi-furnished micro apartment in Times Square for $550 a month

Post the pics. Please. I think this depends on how much noise and light the unit receives. I like to save money when I can.

I would be interested in seeing the pictures opee. Are you able to continue the rent on your current place? Do. what's best for you!

also, can you give estimates in square footage of each?

I fucked a guy there once. They asked me for ID to get in. It's just like a half way house. I know exactly where you're talking about. His place was small but ok. He was proud of it. I think it's sketchy.

OP, any other prospects at other locations aside from staying where you are?

I can understand that the size, coupled with a busy but not necessarily convenient to your daily needs location don't add up. For me that it's semi-furnished probably wouldn't be a plus either. Best of luck in looking.

OP, I would like to see photos of the place too. I think you have your answer if you’re feeling put off by both the building and tenants. Those feelings are hard to shake, especially when you’re confronted with them every day.

OP, send nudes

Here's the building.

Here's the unit the they offered me viewed from the sidewalk outside.

does the website accurately portray the amenities?

$850 for Bay Ridges is pretty cheap. Do you like it there, or are you really needing to move now?

I like neighborhoods that are easy to reach with or without public transportation. I dislike excessive noise, odors, dank apartments or apartments that receive too much natural light.

Do you need support for a personal matter?

Window looking out from the unit. View is of the west side of Eighth Ave betw 42nd and 43rd St.

Bay *Ridge*

Inside the apartment, the kitchenette.

Oooof. I think you’re better off in Bay Ridge OP. Living in the middle of Times Square in that small an apartment unit seems like a one way ticket to madness.

Thank you for sharing - very interesting.

OP, follow your gut instinct.

Comes furnished with a twin bed but you can bring your own bed instead and they'll take out this twin one. Unit is so small 'cause they used to be SROs. There is a half bathroom with shower only (and toilet of course) but the bathroom sink is in the main room next to the bathroom. (Didn't take pic of that.)

The exterior door to the unit showing close proximity to the Westin Hotel across the street-

is it 'one chance and done' with this agency? or, can you keep your application on file if something opens up in one of their other buildings?

R20, no you can apply for their other buildings separately. I've already applied for this one, The Schermerhorn, in Downtown Brooklyn.

Sadly this is the future of housing in Murica.

Are you an attention-seeking lesbian with a cane? SERIOUSLY?!?!? Or maybe an EST Troll or a Humble Brag A$$HOL3.

You supposedly broke your butt filling out paperwork and providing documentation to find affordable housing in New York City (Manhattan), and now you're coming to DataLounge (of all places) to whine about "well, I'm not really sure the Feng Shui is right for me and I don't feel comfortable in this (TBH *AWESOME*) neighborhood . . ."

Just move into a cardboard box behind a convenience store in New Jersey, and then die.

P.S. NO ONE wants your stuff.

o, that one looks nice r21! thank you for sharing the pictures with us! I, personally, would go bonkers living in Times square but I do know people who would love it.

The Schemerhorn at R21 looks much better, pleasant and bright and considered. While I usually favor old buildings, the Times Square address seems like a building that has come down in the world incrementally, such that it can't be reduced more; it still feels like the meaner side of SRO.

I think that unit and possibly other units becoming recently available may be explained by this news story from last month about how Breaking Ground is now starting to sue tenants for owed back rent.

OP -I understand the building is not for you, but as someone who fears getting priced out of Manhattan in retirement I’d happily take a place there in a decade or so. I’m familiar with the building, it was built as a hotel in the early 20th century so the rooms are going to be quite small.

Without divulging anything about your situation, where did you find the criteria & application process for the building?

I'd save the 300 bucks a month and take a nice vacation every year

Yeah, I would pass and hold on for something better to open up. Are you in danger of losing your current lease?

If I was in my 20s a place like the one in Times Square would be fine. It would just be a place I slept and showered and I had very few meaningful possessions back then.

I think if you’re asking us, you already know it’s too much on your nerves to be at that corner. Checking in at a front desk is very welfare hotel. Do you want to be embarassed about where you live?

All you need to know is whether or not you can keep creating OnlyFans content there.

Stay in Bay Ridge.

You will go insane in Times Square.

This is pretty fascinating. I always thought the list for subsidized units like these was years long. I have friends who applied to live in The Actor’s Building, Manhattan Plaza. That building looks like a better option, but might be a different form of housing support.

My former neighbor, a retired police officer, qualified for a one bedroom unit near Madison and 35th St. He showed me pictures and it looked brand new, with a shiny kitchen and a terrace. He sold a unit that he owned, and moved into this rent controlled unit, using his pension to qualify for the nominal rent. I think he may have transferred his co-op to a sibling in order to qualify for the newer, larger rental. I remember there was something sketchy about the transaction.

I have friends who qualify for a lot of subsidies in NYC even though they have some inherited money and could pay. They say some healthcare is income-based, not asset-based. Housing might be different.

Can you just say it is too small? You cook a lot a need a larger kitchen, something like this?

You don’t seem okay with it.

This is too small for a person. It pisses me off that they do this to people.

But it's New York!

Ugh. Tiny and depressing in a super noisy neighborhood.

And, as others have said, it would have been great for me in my 20s. But, who wants to spend their twilight years in THAT?

OP, don't move into that micropenis unit. SROs (even "former" ones) are meant for immigrants who don't know better and drug addicts/homeless men who don't care and just want a place of their own for smoking and jerking off in peace.

A twin bed is pathetic and not conducive to sex. Any self-respecting person could see the unit would negatively impact one's mental health. It is insufficient for boosting confidence and feeling good about life. You can't bring someone back there without looking like a loser.

I know many other people who received way better rent-stabilized, income-based housing (and related voucher programs) in NYC who didn't settle for that pathetic place. It's basically like living at the Y.

Better bet might be 90 Sands in Brooklyn, NY

More:

For those who don't live in NYC a brief primer.

Here in city housing is a "right". NYC is bound by courts to provide shelter to those in need. More still NYS constitution mandates the state care for "the poor". This has been translated by courts and others to define housing.

Besides being poor those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, the homeless, those suffering from mental illness, disability and some other bits may qualify for low cost or nearly free housing. In some instances depending upon situation it will be "supportive housing"

There are many ways this is made possible. Federal Section 8 vouchers, city or state financed vouchers, non-profits, public housing..

People are moving from shelters or the street into brand new luxury housing courtesy of NYC or Section 8 vouchers.

Residents of Hell's Kitchen fought against city building supportive housing for HIV/AIDs suffers, they lost.

Building is called "The Liro"

According to my therapist, a major percentage of the apartments in these new affordable housing lotteries are going to single gay men.

Middle-aged and older, nudged out of their industries because of ageism, don't have anyone to fall back on financially.

Think your therapist is blowing smoke....

Wide range of households are applying for and getting those lottery apartments.

If there is a community board preference and building is located in an area of with decent sized population of gays, then maybe what she said is true.

You can read posts to linked forum below and suss out not everyone getting these apartments or even close to majority is a single gay white male.

This young man finally nabbed a lottery unit after eight years of trying.

People actually pack up and move to NYC and within a short period of time (month or two) land in supportive, HIV/Aids or other housing. All courtesy of NY taxpapers

Others aren't so lucky...

Some SROs are better than others....

It was hushed up with not much media coverage but a man was killed at a HIV/AIDS housing run by Breaking Ground in Chelsea, the Christopher on West 24th street.

Singer, songwriter and actor Jay Brannan lived (or still lives) at The Christopher.

My gay male therapist has no reason to blow smoke, R44.

And if you're trying to glean population statistics from an online message board, I've got a bridge in Staten Island to sell you.

It's free for you—just go jump off it.

Bay Ridge has one subway line, the "R" train which locals say means "Rarely" and it's a local from Manhattan. Almost an hour journey.

As of 2020 there were 21,382 new lottery housing units built in NYC.

For even half of those units to be occupied by gay males city's population would have to be 50% gay men, which it certainly is not. Thus you and your therapists theories or whatever just aren't mathematically sound. That or one or both don't understand what "major percentage" means.

I'm glad for the programs that benefit people like the young man profiled in the article at R45 and OP potentially and others. People can be hard-pressed by money problems at any point in life, but it's often especially pronounced for the younger and the older. There are cities where people go to pains to move and to live and to stay, and those cities are often made special more by the people who come (or stay) for dreams rather than because that's where the high salary is.

In other parts of the world social housing has a broader scope and takes in many more people in a wider range of situations than in the U.S., and somehow those countries and those cities manage -- and are the better for doing.

OP - Honey, just call it what it is... a state-funded retirement home for the indigent.

If you think it's too small now it will only get smaller and you will rage at God even if you're an atheist.

Joshua Bianchi in R45 is good looking.

If the building/residents depress you, imagine actually living there.

Seeing the pics, it's a nope from me, and I think it's a nope for you too, OP.

Something always seems to be happening at these Breaking Ground properties.

Something always seems to be popping in that area as a whole.

I too know exactly what building it is. I always thought it was some type of shelter filled with homeless/drug rehab folks. Yes it's ok if you just got off the boat but otherwise I'd give it a hard pass. Too dangerous, too small and morally decaying.

OP see R43 - you are destined to find love at this place!

R43 I can think of several friends in that exact position. Aged out of their professions, no nest egg, elderly parents outliving their assets and leaving no real inheritance. Yet these individuals are both straight and gay, male and female. The one link I see is that many have been displaced from creative jobs, especially marketing jobs.

Housing is the big wild card. Many of my friends in NYC held onto rent stabilized units on the idea that their rents would “lock” into place at 62, and that is true for many. But even a modest (for NYC) rent bill stabilized at $1,030 to $1,800.00 will be a challenge to those whose incomes flatten or decline past the ages of 58 to 64.

Rent subsidies are a big deal for so many people, but in the harsh light of history, too many of my friends “ran in place” by living inexpensively in neat old apartments in nice areas like the Upper East and West Sides of NYC, but now find themselves with only rent receipts to show for the past 30 years. These friends include some fairly well known performers and advertising people with “big” jobs in publishing in the 1990’s.

Aging is rough. And rougher still when you’re broke. I’m not afraid to grow older, but I do fear losing my freedom and autonomy, and that could happen to any of us. Some of my friends hit a perfect storm of surprise financial hits like emergency dental care, pet care, special prescriptions that aren’t covered fully by Medicare or Medicaid.

As I creep up in age, I think about these wolves coming to the door, and try to be ready. I’m ok and I will be ok, but my friends, not so much. And no one can talk about it honestly without getting really upset and defensive. It’s rough.

Our co-op is a good one, with a good Board and healthy financials. When I bought my unit, a learned that several units had tenants grandfathered in after out building turned co-op way back in the 1980’s. I saw many of these tenants in these “sponsored” units age in place there, and most did very well. We had an old Zigfield Follies showgirl who lived past 100 in an apartment she took over from a lawyer who couldn’t keep it up during the Depression.

A few of the tenants in these sponsored units were some of the most demanding with the door staff, actually menacing the doormen and concierge. when you visit other co-OP’s with legacy renters, you can sometimes spot them coming and going, and see their apartments are in rough shape, with turquoise and pink paint from the 1950’s. Some are hoarders, a stress response that is pretty common among people who feel trapped or insecure about their future.

^^ d’oh that should spell “I learned”, not “a learned”.

There was a NYC court case or maybe discrimination (Human Rights Commission/HRC) where an older renting tenant in a co-op building sued because she was denied access to newly installed gym.

Older tenant claimed it was age or some sort of discrimination, co-op board said amenity was new feature to building occurring after her rent stabilized tenancy started this was not included in her lease. City sided with tenant.

Co-op had to pay damages, fines, etc..

[quote]Some are hoarders, a stress response that is pretty common among people who feel trapped or insecure about their future.

Is this true? I'd never heard this, but it makes perfect sense.

Where does the Sunshine Hotel play into all of this? The documentary about the Sunshine Hotel is "free" with Amazon Prime, right now.

If "you just got off the boat" ypu can stay in The Row around the corner on 8th Ave, and have your nice room cleaned and meals brought to you every day by management.

Looks lovely. And how many roommates would you have?

R57 Josh tells us: "the gen z fashion boomerang tells me rompers will be back next summer and Rompers For Men will arrive summer 2025"

I want to like him but hope he's wrong.

OP I am interested. What was your work history and standard of living the past 20 years. Do you have any savings or assets? I'm not judging but am interested from the article posted above.

Never in a million years could I live in something like that. That motel kitchenette is the most depressing thing I've seen in a long time. I mean, it's basically a room in an old hotel, and nothing more.

If they're going to serve Dataloungers, they need to rename that agency BEARKING Ground.

I am a fucking moron.

they need to improve the building code for MORE space per person. They need to renovated that place or give people two apartments and a plug in kitchen, like in Europe.

No r74 that is just one loser on here.

The apartment is dreary. Grubby. I like the location but can not tolerate excessive noise.

I’d like to think I could live in a tiny space, but find really nice small things like compact appliances and a really nice reading chair, etc. but if the building itself is loud or full of transients, that would make it impossible.

I do think it’s easier to find well engineered things now than it was even a decade ago. I’d look in marine supply catalogs for things designed for a boat.

[quote] They need to renovated that place or give people two apartments and a plug in kitchen, like in Europe.

R76, What's a plug in kitchen?

This thread reminds me of the housing situation in Soylent Green.

^

R27, they really don't tell you about their criteria. You just fill out an initial application for each of their properties you are interested in, including some basic info they ask you about, and then if you get near the top of the waiting list a Breaking Ground leasing agent will contact you and asks for additional things based on their review of the previous documents you've sent to them. For example in my case, after seeing a $300 transfer from my Venmo account into my checking account they requested to see all my Venmo account transaction history for the previous year. I was also never told by them what the maximum balance I was allowed to have in my bank account. I just sent them proof of how much I actually had and waited to see if that was acceptable to them as a potential tenant.

R72, Ive been disabled since 2007 and receive SSDI. Prior to that I'd worked in a variety of jobs/industries for 30 plus years with some minor employment gaps during that period. I have some savings but not alot and I even have some uncollected inheritance (also not alot) from when my mother died about a decade ago that I still haven't gotten. It's mostly sitting in a particular state's (Not NY's) comptroller's unclaimed funds account.

What do you think of the apartment and the neighborhood? Bay Ridge is a great old school Brooklyn hood, very diverse with nice views of the Manhattan skyline

[quote] We had an old Zigfield Follies showgirl

She wasn't good enough for the Ziegfeld Follies?

Wasn't that building the old Carter Hotel?

No it's across the street from the Hotel Carter.

Everything in the Times Square area is vastly overpriced. Don’t buy food there.

OP 43rd and 8th is not cute. Too close to Port Authority. A lot of sketchola day and night. That particular stretch is devoid of character and very Eastern Bloc housing. Hold out for other buildings. I lived in Bay Ridge since 2005 and just moved further north in Brooklyn. Bay Ridge is so far away and it’s nice to be in a more central neighborhood.

Op, Do you ever go to Times Square otherwise? It’s quite a jump to move there. It’s depressing. The flotsam that will greet you INSIDE your building and OUT. You do not want to live in this building. Your other tenants will be overwhelming. You don’t seem like you believe it. Or that the saving of a little will be worth it. It won’t be.

I stayed with a friend on 45th and 8th Ave last week and was sick of it after three days. Horrible area.

Thank you OP / R83

OP, you do realize that you'd have a hard time getting an apartment for $850 in Bumfucke, Kansas, at this point?

If you're fine with the neighborhood, stay in Bay Ridge.

The risk here is that the new place and neighborhood makes you crazy, and then what? Is saving $300 really worth that dice roll?

But then again, if you've been disabled and getting SSRI for 16 years, you'd probably qualify for one of the many assisted-living homes in NYC, including the one in my East Village neighborhood across from gazillion-dollar condos. What do I know?

Not to get all up into OP's business, but that $850 *may* likely be his share of rent. If OP qualifies for supportive or whatever housing that allows him to move into Breaking Ground units it means likely he receives some sort of voucher or other subsidy.

Under income limited housing OP would pay no more than 30% of monthly income towards rent (that number can fluctuate a bit depending upon if unit has heat/utilities included with rent or are paid separately), balance of rent is paid via government via voucher or some other federal, state or city source.

@R26

That bit of news about Breaking Ground or other supportive housing providers evicting tenants was a bit of a PR stunt. In follow-up local NYC news reports Breaking Ground admitted it rarely evicts tenants unless there are certain circumstances. Things like clear and persistent violation of tenancy rules and or non-payment of rent that is not resolved.

In latter case all social service agencies and landlords who have voucher tenants know the drill. Sometimes only way to get city, state or federal government off their asses and pay what is owed is by beginning legal action in housing court. Once that happens case workers or whoever get a fire under their behinds and start cutting checks for back rent.

Breaking Ground and rest do their best but at end of day they too have bills to pay. Rent from tenants makes up about 40% of their budget, if it's not paid they are in same position as any other property owner.

When you're dealing with any government bureaucracy shit happens. Caseworkers are over loaded and worked, cases get lost in shuffle, agency in question has budget issues, etc....

Other issue is people aren't informed and or otherwise lack knowledge of services that are available to them in cases where back rent has accrued.

New York has something called "One Shot Deal" where certain persons under various circumstances may qualify for funds to pay rent arrears so won't be evicted. There is a common misconception that in order to apply for said funds a tenant must have been served with eviction proceedings. So that is what Breaking Ground and others do, this despite city saying time and time again they don't have to do things that way.

I don't blame you, you couldn't pay me to live in Times Square. It's all just too much.

I’ve stayed on high floors in that Westin and it’s still noisy.

Don’t be so god damned picky, OP.

[quote] Joshua Bianchi in [R45] is good looking.

How do you think he "won" the lottery? I'm sure it was worth it.

There is no personal contact during lottery process. A home visit once was required as part of process but BdeB's administration scrapped that bit.

R29 were you getting banged from dawn til dusk in your 20s and only needed a place to crash and wash your underthings?

OP, at that location, you could pay for your entire rent from just 2 nights on AirBnB.

If you find it depressing, do not move there.

I qualified for a program in another city under which I am placed in an apartment by the agency which pays my rent directly. I lived in my first apartment through them for a bit over four years. The complex was bought by an investment group which wanted to upgrade and did not renew any leases with my agency. (This was insane given the neighborhood, but they're from out of town and overreached.) Shortly after being moved into my current apartment, the complex was sold. The new owners did not want us there, so I knew pretty quickly I'd be here for only a year. So few complexes are willing to deal with my agency that I'm being placed in an apartment I am not thrilled about. I don't want to complain about a sweet deal (I pay nothing). But if Congress does not increase funding and/or allow the agency to pay a higher rate, there won't be any decent housing in the which the agency can afford. Once complexes were satisfied to have several units leased with guaranteed rental payments, but not now, at least not in this market. I'm not sure what's in store for me.