Former President Bill Clinton and 55 W. 125th St.

Former President Bill Clinton has signed a 10-year lease renewal for his 8,715-square-foot office atop 55 West 125th Street and got a $100,000-a-year-discount for taxpayers, the Wall Street Journal reported. Under the Former Presidents Act of 1958, Clinton is afforded “suitable” office space by the government. Originally, his Harlem lease was one of the most expensive ever for a former president, but now he’s trumped by former President George W. Bush, whose 15,678-square-foot Dallas office lease costs $701,636 annually, according to the U.S. General Services Administration. Clinton’s new lease will total just under $400,000 for the first five years, less than the $506,777 he had been paying for the space prior to the renewal. The William J. Clinton Foundation, which pays for its own office space, also has around 19,000 square feet on the 11th and 13th floors of the building. The foundation’s lease expires next summer. [WSJ]

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The Obama administration plans to use $4.25 billion in economic
stimulus money for the creation of subsidized rental housing units in
cities across the country. The money would pay for both the
construction of new apartment buildings and the refurbishment of
foreclosed homes. An additional $4 billion of the $14 billion that the
Department of Housing and Urban Development received from the federal
stimulus package will go toward repairing the nation’s current public
housing stock. The program marks a drastic shift from former President
George W. Bush’s “ownership society,” the idea that the ultimate goal
for all Americans should be home ownership. But opponents of the Obama
administration’s proposal warn that sometimes rent can be more
expensive than a mortgage. [more]