Why 550 Square Feet?

     The June 2010 Loft Law does not cover units which are less than 550 square feet.  The 550 square foot requirement is irrational because:

• the June 1982 Loft Law did not have a minimum-square-footage requirement;
• most legal studios in NYC are smaller than 550 square feet; and
• NYC desperately needs smaller - and less expensive - housing units.

     The smaller housing units are needed primarily because single adults now make up almost one-half of NYC's population.  (According to the 2010 census, 32% of households in NYC were single-person households).  Yet only 1.5% of NYC's rent housing is a studio or one-bedroom apartment.

     In an effort to address this problem, Mayor Bloomberg launched a competition to design and construct the city's first micro-unit apartment building.  The winning team was announced in a mayoral press release dated January 22, 2013:

• Monadnock Development LLC,
• Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation, and
• nARCHITECTS.

     The building will consist of 55 micro-units which will measure between 250 and 370 square feet.

     Once again, why must a loft consist of 550 square feet in order to be covered by the 2010 Loft Law?  Hopefully, either a tenant - or more likely a building owner - negatively affected by this requirement will challenge it in Court.