Can we save the garden and provide affordable housing to seniors?

There are more than 550 community gardens in New York City. Beginning as a way to claim and repurpose vacant lots, community gardens have been a part of life in the city since the 1960s. Cultivating green space in neighborhoods like the Lower East Side (LES), Hell’s Kitchen, and East Harlem, encouraged social gatherings by the people, for the people.

Elizabeth Street Garden (ESG), located on the LES between Prince and Spring Street, is just one of these 550 green spaces. Now, plans to turn the garden into senior affordable housing looms over the heads of ESG frequenters. Haven Green (HP) and their development team, announced plans to renovate the lot in December of 2017. Two years after their plans were publicized, Friends of Elizabeth Street garden (FESG), filed a law suit against the City of New York and the Department of Housing and Preservation and Development (HPD). 

A frequenter of the garden, Si Zhang, said, “I think whoever is starting to convert this place they really have to do research that’s convincing to see if the need of new housing is greater than the need of people just to relax there.” The need for new housing and need for relaxation are both prevalent, often understated, thins in an urban setting. Deciding which need is more important makes the legal and ethical battle between some members of the community and The City difficult to conclude. “I think the local people’s opinion are the most important thing,” Zhang continued in response to learning about the development project. 

While the World Health Organization recommends that cities provide at least 9 square meters of green space per person, NYC provides anywhere from 0-5.49 in almost all of Manhattan. Green space is precious to people in this city. 

Figure 1 - uploaded by Timon McPhearson

Affordable could be deemed more precious, however. Just in CB2, the district that ESG is located, more than 4,600 senior citizens await affordable housing – on average, for more than seven years. While FESG argues the development could be constructed on a vacant lot, like 388 Hudson, Council Member Maragaret Chin says, “If we can build affordable housing on that site, we should build it, because there’s such tremendous need. It’s not one or the other,” in an article published in NY Curbed. 

Lot 388 Hudson, from NY Curbed

Zoning regulations are one of the main ways to ensure that an already limited amount of space is used efficiently. To ensure this, NYC Planning inputs specific zoning regulations so that land is used and organized in the most beneficial way (at least, that’s how things are supposed to work – though there have been restrictive zoning laws in the past that have increased housing prices). In 2016, NYC Planning updated their zoning laws, including multiple designated areas for inclusionary housing. The inclusionary housing program (IHP) is, “designed to preserve and promote affordable housing within neighborhoods where zoning has been modified to encourage new development,” according to nyc.gov. One of these designated inclusionary housing zones included–you guessed it–the ESG neighborhood.  

One thing that is not acknowledged on the ESG website is that the Haven Green project does include public outdoor space in its design. The project also acknowledges the community’s desires, including the need for a sanctuary away from the street, possible elements from ESG such as the sculptures, saving the existing mature trees when possible, and using native plants to attract wildlife.

If there has to be a choice between the garden and affordable housing, the decision lies with the city. The city has a responsibility to protect its people, a responsibility that also means preserving its community. 

The legal case between ESG and Haven Green calls into question why green space and affordable housing are pit against each other instead of being used in tandem. Neither are a privilege to earn, but a right that everyone should be afforded. 

  Green spaces are not the reason NYC doesn’t have enough affordable housing, and affordable housing is not the cause of limited green space. These issues are their own, yet connected by both being undervalued, underfunded, and under resourced projects. Both are precious necessities that are often viewed as a luxury. Once a garden is destroyed, it is rare that it will be rebuilt; Once an area is gentrified, there is no way it’s going back to the community it belonged to. If ESG fails to certify itself as a Conservation of Land Trust (CLT), the IHP program will likely resume their plans – hopefully, with the need for green space in mind.