A group of Queens residents and affordable housing activists protested yesterday [November 1], demanding that the housing project Queens West be within the reach of all.

The project, announced in mid-October by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has plans to purchase 24 acres in Long Island City from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for the development of affordable housing.

The plan is to create 5,000 housing units, designed for families of four with an annual income of between $60,000 and $145,000.

“This cannot be called an 'affordable' housing project if the majority of Queens residents cannot afford to live in it,” said Reverend Lancelot Waldron, president of Queens Congregations United in Action.

A study undertaken by the Community Development Center at Pratt determined that the average salary of Queens residents is $43,093.

According to the activists, of a total of 782,523 homeowners in Queens, approximately 478,000 (61 percent) earn less than the $60,000 established as the minimum salary for this project. About 20,000 have incomes below $25,000.

“New construction projects in Queens, as in Jamaica or Jackson Heights, are not including low-income units for people earning below $25,000 a year, or for middle-income families making less than $48,000 a year,” said Eduardo Barahona of the Cuzcatlán Hispanic Center.

According to the most recent census, foreign-born homeowners have an average income of $28,856 for men and $26,402 for women. Over 80 percent of them earn less than $50,000 a year.

The activists are asking that at least half of all units be affordable for the current average Queens income, and that 20 percent of them be affordable for low-income families.

Neill Coleman, spokesman for the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, said he considers these charges unfair since this project is explicitly meant for middle-income people.

Nevertheless, in the city's general plan for affordable housing, Coleman said, 75 percent is intended for low-income people (under $56,000 for a family of four.)

Coleman added that $60,000 is the minimum annual income for a family of four, but for a single person the minimum annual income is $40,000.

Brad Lauder of Pratt's Community Development Center said that even if in fact the city's overall project calls for 165,000 units of affordable housing, very few of them are in Queens.

“Everyone has the right to live in a clean neighborhood, of which they can be proud and which is within their reach,” said Queens Council Member Eric Gioia.

One of the low-income housing projects the city will develop in Queens is the rezoning of 130 blocks in Maspeth-Woodside.

Median salaries

* Public school teacher: $55,378

* Police officer: $52,957

* Nurse: $46,524

* Fireman: $43,732

* Cook: $39,512

Source: Salary.com New York Queens