Too Big to Fail: At least in my area, 55+ housing is the only multifamily housing that gets approved for building, because it adds to the tax base without adding students to the school district.

At least in my area, 55+ housing is the only multifamily housing that gets approved for building, because it adds to the tax base without adding students to the school district.

I do think that 55+ housing communities probably shouldn’t be legal, in our current era of housing crisis that’s hitting younger people hard.

Also, in one rather hilarious instance, a gigantic 55+ development is going up on... land that is too toxic to allow children to live on, because it was a mechanical gauge factory before WWII, and the ground is saturated with unremediated mercury and other toxins.

Large sections of Brooklyn, particularly along the waterfront are likely cancer clusters due to years of industrial usage

Yeah, I lived like a block from the Brooklyn Army Terminal for ten years, moved away when my daughter was 9 months old, and I regularly hope I don't get super- cancer from it.

I know the area well. I'd be much more worried about living in Gowanus or Red Hook

OK, I guess? As a 55+ person, though, I must say no thank you.

I had never thought of that angle. I had thought it was mostly racism and fear of The Poors.

Everything property- value related here is based on school district performance and where the local high school falls in the USNews rankings, and increasing revenue through additional property taxes while not adding the expense of extra students makes 55+ communities super- attractive.

Tbf, there is also the racism and fear of The Poors.

You would think that could backfire when the 55+ vote against school funding

I think in my district the total population is 11,000 and there's perhaps 1,000 units of 55+ housing so they can't outnumber single family homeowners.

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