Apply now for affordable rentals in the Upper West Side's "poor door" building

By Virginia K. Smith | February 18, 2015 - 8:59AM

What's more important: your dignity or cheap rent? It's time to choose, as applications opened up today for 55 subsidized rentals in 40 Riverside Boulevard, a part of the luxe, forthcoming One Riverside Park complex, which recently ignited New York's "poor door" controversy. (The city approved plans for the segregated entrance set-up earlier this year.)

Prices start at $833 for a studio and go up to $895 for a one-bedroom or $1,082 for a two-bedroom, according to NYC Housing Connect, and will be available to applicants with annual household incomes ranging from $30,240 to $50,340, depending on apartment and family size. Per usual with these types of rentals, preference for 50 percent of the affordable apartments will be given to current neighborhood residents; in this case that means residents of Community Board 7, which encompasses Manhattan Valley, the Upper West Side, and Lincoln Square. (Full details for available units and application requirements can be found here.) Amenities for subsidized renters include a laundry room, bike storage, parking, and a "community room." Meanwhile, the luxury buyers, who'll have to shell out between $3.6 million to $25.75 million for the few remaining condos available, will get access to perks like a screening room, bowling alley and rock climbing wall.

Above, the entrance for renters at 40 Riverside Boulevard

We've reached out to a spokesperson for the development and will update if we hear back. As we've written previously, 40 Riverside isn't the first (or only) new development to create a separate entrance for its subsidized renters. If you're willing to bite the bullet and deal with the door, brush up on our guide to applying for 80/20 rentals, and get those applications in by April 20.

I'm a subsidized renter, and a "poor door" might be the last straw

80/20 apartment living: my life as a 20 percenter

Win the NYC housing lottery: how to get an "80/20" rental

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