Renderings of the new co-op buildings that will be part of the Soundview campus, one of the many projects initiated by the City in 2020. Image Credit: NYCHA
The newly financed homes keep New York City on track to meet its goal to provide 300,000 affordable homes by 2026. On February 9, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the City financed the construction and preservation of 29,521 affordable homes in 2020. Fifty-seven percent of the affordable homes financed in 2020 will serve families of three that earn less than $52,000 per year. The city has financed over 177,000 homes through the Housing New York plan since 2014. The city has leveraged over $7.4 billion in city capital subsidy to drive a $39.4 billion investment for the five boroughs.
The creation of the homes is a critical part of the Mayor’s comprehensive housing plan, Your Home NYC. The plan helps to protect tenants by providing legal advice, representation, emergency rental assistance, eviction prevention measures, housing code enforcement, home fix programs, and finances the construction of public and private income-restricted housing. All of these resources can be accessed here.
The Permanent Affordability Commitment Together Program has been working simultaneously to provide repairs and protect aging public housing. The program is a key part in a city goal to repair 62,000 apartments while preserving affordability and protecting residents. So far, the program has repaired over 9,500 apartments and is slated to repair another 12,000 soon. In 2020, $817 million was approved for use in capital repairs to benefit over 4,300 apartments.
Other actions taken in 2020 included the financing of 1,117 supportive homes, 1,000 affordable homes for seniors, and 2,000 affordable homes for the homeless; preserving affordability aat 22,068 homes; providing newly constructed housing for low-income New Yorkers; and creating 18,125 homeownership opportunities by preserving 17,753 Mitchell-Lama homeownership apartments.
The City also focused on several projects to provide housing opportunities for low-income New Yorkers citywide. 90 Sands, a former Jehovah’s Witnesses hotel, will be transformed into 491 affordable homes in DUMBO, Brooklyn, with over 300 apartments set aside for formerly homeless New Yorkers who will receive on-site supportive services.
The Bronx Point A project, in the South Bronx, is in its first phase to create 542 affordable homes, 271 of which will be for families earning less than $52,000. The mixed-use site will also be the future home of the Universal Hip-Hop Museum, an outdoor science program run by the Billion Oyster Project in the nearby Harlem River, and an early childhood space run by BronxWorks.
Rockaway Village 3, located in Downtown Far Rockaway, Queens, is in its third phase of creating a mixed-use development that replaces a derelict shopping mall with affordable housing, commercial spaces, a new library, public plazas and infrastructure improvements. The project will bring 354 affordable homes.
Soundview Homes, on NYCHA’s Soundview campus in the Bronx, will provide 72 affordable co-ops across ten four-story townhouses.
Concourse Village, a Mitchell-Lama Co-op in the Bronx, features 1,874 homes for 5,000 residents. Affordability is now guaranteed at Concourse Village through the year 2060.
The East Harlem/ El Barrio CLT is a new land trust project that will operate four formerly coty-owned buildings in East and Central Harlem as mutual housing association rental project with 36 afforable units.
Mayor Bill de Blasio stated, “By leading the nation in financing affordable housing construction and preservation, New York City will remain a place that welcomes everyone and keeps families in their homes – all while delivering a recovery for all of us.”
Department of Housing Protection and Development Commissioner Louise Carroll stated, “We are focused on projects that deliver on the key commitments of Your Home NYC and will serve the most vulnerable communities while also driving economic recovery through this challenging time.”
By: Patrick McNeill (Patrick is the CityLaw intern and a New York Law School student, Class of 2022.)