"The Chinese Government Is Building Affordable Housing in Brooklyn." (Oh, really?)

It's all about the frame, right? 

So the article from Quartz, The Chinese Government Is Building Affordable Housing in Brooklyn (repurposed on fellow Atlantic site CityLab), was a particularly sheep-like framing of a building that includes below-market housing that's not affordable to most Brooklynites, and is accompanied by the construction of a luxury condo tower.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to keep this neighborhood diverse, affordable and accessible for all New Yorkers,” I-Fei Chang, head of Greenland Holdings Group’s US expansion, was quoted as saying. 

Relying on an imprecise description in a DNAinfo article, the Quart article states:

Half of the 298 units are supposed to be for families that make as low as 40% of the median income for the area—that’s about $33,560 for a family of four.

Thankfully, Quartz offers the opportunity to post an annotation on each paragraph. Here's one I posted:

Chang's quote is pure p.r. , surely fed by (unmentioned) partner Forest City Ratner, part of Greenland Forest City Partners. Poor phrasing: only 5% of total units are for households @ 40% of AMI--most "affordable" units are for households far better off then average Brooklynites.

I linked both to my analysis of affordability and my coverage of the groundbreaking.