The New York based real estate developer Extell Development Company has gotten green light to build in a "poor door" in a high-rise building located next to the Hudson River, so that high-income homeowners doesn´t have to use the same entrance as the residents with low incomes:

The City of New York approved a proposal by one of the largest real estate developers in the city to build in a 'poor door', or a separate door for residents living in affordable housing to enter their building.

[...]

Extell's proposal allows them to force affordable housing tenants to walk through an entrance located in a back alley behind the building to enter, leaving the more prominent front entrance for tenants paying for nicer apartments.

Under the Inclusionary Housing Program, for which the city approved Nextell's application, larger properties are allowed to be built as long as they include a portion of affordable housing units.

For the 40 Riverside Boulevard location, 55 units will be designated as affordable housing, all units facing the street. Another 219 units will face the river.

[...]

'No one ever said that the goal was full integration of these populations,' David Von Spreckelsen, senior vice president at Toll Brothers, another developer specializing in luxury residencies, told The Real Deal in 2013. 'So now you have politicians talking about that, saying how horrible those back doors are. I think it’s unfair to expect very high-income homeowners who paid a fortune to live in their building to have to be in the same boat as low-income renters, who are very fortunate to live in a new building in a great neighborhood.'

One question comes to mind: isn´t it unfair to get approval to build larger properties at the expense of low-income renters? What´s the big deal of not having to share the entrance, you still have your apartment?

Feature image: A beautiful view from one of the guest rooms in The Standard High Line NYC overlooking the Hudson River.