The Mitchell-Lama Housing Program is a form of housing subsiy in the state of New York. It was proposed by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell and Assemblyman Alfred Lama and signed into law in 1955. The law provided for the development of affordable housing (both rental and co-operatively owned). Under this program, local jurisdictions took land (often ousting the poor people living on it) by eminent domain and provided it to developers for extremely little money -- to develop housing for low- and middle-income tenants. Developers received tax abatements as long as they remained in the program, and low-interest mortgages, subsized by the federal, state, or New York City government. The government level that subsidized the mortgage supervises the building's financing and function as long as it is in the Mitchell-Lama program.