By George Tsai
Go to Flushing, College Point, Corona and Elmhurst and you will see a housing construction boom, a phenomenon that is changing our landscapes and the character of our neighborhoods for the worse.To some, however, the boom is an indication of community prosperity.It's right. But its residents have paid the price.Within a 200-foot radius in College Point, seven duplexes have been under construction despite inclement weather. Four of them are on my block.To a certain extent the housing supply cannot meet the demand. Many people have chosen to settle in this part of Queens because the town is closer to Flushing. What's more, College Point is cheaper in terms of housing. In a few years College Point may turn out to be a town of duplexes with little variations.Now I know why real estate agents occasionally approach me, asking if I want to sell my house. Smart developers want to buy older, single-family houses at reasonable prices, then tear them down and replace them with two two-story duplexes with basements. Such two duplexes could house four to six families. It's no secret that some homeowners in Queens tend to turn basements or garages into one-bedroom apartments for use as rental units.Ironically, these new houses in Queens mostly don't have garages, and their increased living space causes a shortage of street parking. Visitors can hardly find a spot to park their cars, especially at night.Each duplex could have four to six vehicles. These garage-less, driveway-less structures baffle old-timers here. There is a bunch of townhouses on my block, yet each of them has a one-car garage in addition to a driveway. They were built about half a century ago, when fewer people had automobiles.It's a shame that developers of the 21st century would forgo such modern facilities. Even new houses in developing countries have garages.More living space, of course, means more profit for developers or new homeowners, but it totally disregards the character of the established neighborhoods and parking problems.I just cannot understand how city agencies would issue construction permits to such developers. Officials have scrutinized the housing designs the developers submitted but probably not seriously. Some of my neighbors feel a little worried about the current house structure patterns.As far as quality is concerned, these new houses seem affordable, but they are priced beyond the reach of new immigrants. These quickly built houses target middle-class buyers whose family incomes exceed $40,000.I saw a single-family house come down and two duplexes rise within three months at the same site.A simple duplex with an unfurnished basement in the College Point-Flushing area has soared to $600,000 or more. I doubt that housing prices will go down in Queens despite reports that bubbles are on the horizon.According to what I have observed, most of the new home buyers are Asian immigrants. Owning a piece of real estate makes them feel they have achieved something in their adopted homeland. They usually put down 30 percent to 50 percent of the purchasing prices, making the closing process much faster and easier. So developers want to deal with them.When they have enough savings, the Chinese usually buy a house or an apartment as a major investment. The first thing Korean immigrants want to pursue, however, is a business. Koreans own a great majority of nail salons in the tri-state region. Chinese and Koreans are the largest ethnic groups in Queens and continue to grow.Those unable to buy houses have no choice but to rent. Well, renting is not cheap, either. A decent two-bedroom apartment in Queens costs $1,200 to $1,500 a month, depending on its location. New immigrants apparently cannot afford it. That's why some of them share a limited living space. And living under that kind of condition breeds physical and emotional ills.The city and private sector could jointly build a well-managed co-op center featuring affordable condominiums and apartments, such as Co-op City in the Bronx about three miles north of the Whitestone Bridge. The project should be conveniently located with stringent regulations.We should avoid using the term “housing project,'' which has a connotation of failure because of the negative image of a great number of them for the poor across the nation. They were filthy and uninhabitable.
