Vast right wing conspiracy lives in NYC

Comrade Philip Guelpa, is convinced of it;

Over the course of May, New York City’s Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio announced a series of proposals he claimed were intended to address the crisis of affordable housing in the city. In reality these proposals, which cover public housing, homelessness, real estate development and rent regulations, are thoroughly right-wing, intended to open the door to privatizing public housing while squeezing more money from low-income residents.

 That's the same Bill de Blasio who admires Castro's Cuba so much he went there on his honeymoon in 1991. Well, the honeymoon's over, says Guelpa;

De Blasio’s public housing plan, dubbed NextGen NYCHA [NYC Housing Authority], is an open attack on the future of public housing. With federal cuts exacerbating NYCHA’s budget deficit, the mayor declared there is no way to fill the funding gap outside of squeezing more money out of residents and turning public housing over for private development.

With the current residents already suffering the usual indignities of living in socialist housing--including leaking pipes, rampant mold, and vermin infestations. Requests for repairs go unfulfilled for months or even years.

So what's De Blasio got up his sleeve? 

To start, approximately 11 acres of NYCHA land will be leased to developers to build condominiums. Half of the units would be set aside for low-income tenants, while the other half would go for market rates. Meanwhile approximately 14,000 NYCHA apartments allowed to deteriorate to an uninhabitable state will be removed from the public housing system and turned over for private investment.

Hmmm. Sounds uncharacteristically practical of De Blasio; the government has made a mess of things, let's let someone else try their hand at housing the poor. Egads! What if it works?

In a further threat to housing affordability, the city’s rent regulations, dating back to World War II, which have some limited effect in moderating the spiral of rent increases in older buildings, expire in June.

Yes, the 'temporary wartime measure' is about to expire only 70 years after WWII ended. Hey, give it some time.