poor door
n. A separate entrance for the lower-income residents of a mixed-income building.
Examples
2014
It’s hard to imagine such a detestable ranking today. Unless, of course, you were to consider the so-called "poor door" policy in New York City. In this updated version, developers grab some tax abatements and build a more profitable, denser development than zoning would otherwise allow by agreeing to set aside some units for low-income families in deluxe, high-rise developments. But to ensure — in the Gresham sense — that bad money does not drive out good, the low-income tenants are steered to a separate entrance in the back. In some developments, "rent-regulated" tenants — who are more likely to be elderly or minorities — are required to keep their dirty mitts off the gym equipment, sky lounge furniture, and other amenities.
—Lawrence Harmon, “New York’s ‘poor door’ policy reverts to old prejudices,” The Boston Globe, July 26, 2014
2014
A Guardian investigation has discovered a growing trend in the capital's upmarket apartment blocks — which are required to include affordable homes in order to win planning permission — for the poorer residents to be forced to use alternative access, a phenomenon being dubbed "poor doors". Even bicycle storage spaces, rubbish disposal facilities and postal deliveries are being separated.
—Hilary Osborne, “Poor doors: the segregation of London's inner-city flat dwellers,” The Guardian, July 25, 2014
2013 (earliest)
A 33-story building slated to be built on Riverside Boulevard between 61st and 62nd street will have an entirely separate entrance for people of lower socioeconomic means: a door for the poor, or as we call it, a "Poor Door." The affordable homes will be oriented towards the back of the building, while market-rate units will have a view of the Hudson.
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