Affordable Housing

April 24, 2017

7 chances to buy an affordable condo in the West Village’s posh 100 Barrow Street, from $90K

Beginning today, qualifying New Yorkers can apply to buy seven affordable condominiums at 100 Barrow Street in the West Village. The luxury residential building, developed by Toll Brothers City Living and designed by Barry Rice Architects, has 26 units total and sits at the corner of Barrow and Greenwich Streets. Market-rate apartments start at $4 million, but those available through the lottery range from a $90,000 studio to $170,000 two-bedrooms for individuals earning no more than 125 percent of the area median income.
Find out if you qualify
April 20, 2017

Affordable housing lotteries fail low-income residents and favor middle-income earners, says new report

In every state and major city in the country, extremely low-income renters face a shortage of affordable housing. Although low-income applicants in New York City display a higher need for affordable housing, policies created by Mayor de Blasio and his administration continue to set aside more units for middle-income applicants. In a detailed report, City Limits analyzed affordable housing in Brooklyn and compared the need for affordable housing to the actual number of allotted low-income and middle-income units. For just one building, the tower at 535 Carlton, nearly 95,000 households entered the lottery for its “100 percent affordable” units. However, only 2,203 applicants were eligible for the 148 middle-income units, and over 67,000 households applied for the 90 low-income units. The data shows low-income households in search of affordable housing face much tougher odds than middle-income applicants.
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April 20, 2017

Enter the waitlist for $2,611/month middle-income apartments at creative Greenpoint rental Eleven33

The waitlist is open for $2,611/month two-bedroom apartments at Greenpoint's super-trendy rental Eleven33, which goes out of its way to check all the boxes in terms of "Brooklyn living" -- from a cyber café with an espresso bar to a landscaped rooftop terrace to a fitness center complete with CrossFit equipment. The affordable housing lottery is open to middle-income households of two, three, and four people earning between $106,080 and $158,550 annually.
Find out if you qualify here
April 19, 2017

10 chances to live in hip East Williamsburg from $833/month

This rental building at 66 Ainslie Street may look like your quintessential warehouse conversion, but it was actually built from the ground up last year, designed by Aufgang Architects to blend in with East Williamsburg's trendy industrial vibe. Of its 50 apartments, 10 are reserved for those earning 60 percent of the area median income. These units include two $833/month studios and eight $895/month one-bedrooms and, as of tomorrow, are up for grabs through the city's affordable housing lottery.
Find out if you qualify
April 18, 2017

Apply for an affordable apartment at Chelsea Centro, two-bedrooms priced at $1,574/month

TF Cornerstone is once again accepting applications for affordable studio, one- and two-bedroom units at their very well located Chelsea Centro rental at 200-220 West 26th Street. The full-time doorman building was erected in 2001 and boasts an 80/20 mix of low-income and market-rate units. As noted by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, TF will be accepting applications from qualifying individuals and families until all the building's affordable vacancies have been filled and its waiting list replenished. The current units up for grabs range from $1,215 per month for a studio up to $1,574 per month for a comfortable two-bedroom spread.
find out if you qualify here
April 17, 2017

Apply for 20 affordable units near the Queensboro Bridge, starting at $1,254/month

The price is right, but the location may not be the most desirable for this new affordable housing building, as it's situated directly alongside the off-ramp to the Queensboro Bridge. Traffic views aside (we're hoping they installed sound-proof windows), these 20 apartments at 321 East 60th Street include $1,254/month one-bedrooms and $1,511/month two-bedrooms for those earning 80 percent of the area median income.
More on the project here
April 17, 2017

Affordable housing lottery for seniors opens at Essex Crossing, from $396/month

At the beginning of last month, the first affordable housing lottery opened for Essex Crossing at Beyer Blinder Belle's huge mixed-use building 145 Clinton Street, where 104 below-market rate units were up for grabs. As of today, the second lottery is open, this time at Dattner Architects' 175 Delancey Street, a 14-story, 100-unit building at the megadevelopment's site 6 that will also offer ground-floor retail, medical offices for NYU Langone, and a senior center and job training facility from the Grand Street Settlement. These 99 one-bedroom apartments are set aside for one- and two-person households that have at least one resident who is 55 years of age or older. They're also earmarked for those earning 0, 30, 40, 60, and 90 percent of the area median income and range from $396/month to $1,254/month.
Find out if you qualify
April 14, 2017

Apply for 16 affordable units in the Tremont section of the Bronx, from $716/ month

As of today, qualifying New Yorkers can apply for 16 newly renovated, affordable apartments in the Tremont section of the Bronx. The units at 565 East 178th Street and 2089-91 Arthur Avenue--which are right near Tremont Park and just a short walk to the Bronx Park and Zoo--are available to those earning 50 to 60 percent of the area median income, ranging from $716/month studios to $1,292/month three-bedrooms.
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April 12, 2017

Astoria, Morningside Heights and Bay Ridge have highest turnover of rent-stabilized apartments

Scoring a rent-stabilized apartment is a big win in New York City, as these regulated pads usually offer rent at below-market rates and provide tenants more protections against landlords. While more than 925,000 rent-stabilized apartments still exist in the city, these units turn over at a faster rate in certain neighborhoods than others, and their availability continues to dwindle (h/t WYNC). According to a new report by the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO), the neighborhoods of Astoria, Morningside Heights and Bay Ridge all have high concentrations of rent-regulated housing built prior to 1974 and therefore, higher rates of turnover compared to other parts of the city.
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April 10, 2017

Lotto opens for Bushwick church conversion, 20 units available from $822/month

It's been two years since Cayuga Capital's "horizontal addition" to the former St. Mark’s Lutheran School and Evangelical Church in Bushwick topped out, and now the 20 affordable apartments at the site are up for grabs through the city's housing lottery. The new, seven-story structure, along with the preserved 1890 Victorian Gothic church, and four-story former school building in between, will offer 99 rentals in total and have been dubbed The Saint Marks. The below-market rate units range from an $822/month studio to $1,071/month two-bedrooms, available to individuals earning 60 percent of the area median income.
Find out if you qualify
April 7, 2017

Kwong Von Glinow’s new prototype for affordable housing can be stacked to fit any lot size

The first place winners of the New York Affordable Housing Challenge, an architectural competition run by Bee Breeders, have been announced. Kwong Von Glinow Design Office received first prize for their entry “The Table Top,” a modular system that aggregates and stacks to provide density and diversity in a city as varied as New York. Designed as a prototype for affordable housing in New York City, the flexible system could accommodate the city's wide range of lot sizes and is adaptable to a variety of unit combinations for diverse types of residents. With an affordable housing crisis abetting an increasingly socially divided city with the majority of its residents spending over half of their annual income on rent, the project speaks to Mayor de Blasio’s emphasis on the dire need to create more affordable housing at both new and redeveloped existing sites.
Find out more about this flexible, scalable design for living
April 5, 2017

Habitat for Humanity will build 48 affordable homes for New Yorkers

In New York City, and the rest of the country, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find affordable housing. To combat this, the Habitat for Humanity NYC announced a plan to build affordable houses for buyers in Brooklyn and Queens. The organization, aimed at constructing quality housing for families in need, will bring 48 units of affordable homes to these boroughs by redeveloping abandoned or foreclosed properties. Since most of these homes have been left vacant for decades, many are run-down and have negatively impacted the surrounding neighborhoods. As Brick Underground learned, the city’s Housing Authority first acquired these properties and then sold them to Habitat for Humanity at $1 each.
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April 4, 2017

Massive high-rise complex with 900 apartments, retail, offices and schools coming to Downtown Brooklyn

Alloy Development announced plans to build a pair of towers at 80 Flatbush Avenue, a 61,000-square-foot parcel of land between Flatbush Avenue, Schermerhorn Street, Third Avenue and State Street. The developer–who, with the Department of Education, owns the land–has been selected by the city’s Educational Construction Fund to build the mixed-use complex as part of the redevelopment of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, which will move into one of the two new school buildings that will be part of the project. The second of the two will be a 350-seat elementary school. The project will also offer 900 apartments (200 of which will be affordable), a 15,000-square-foot cultural facility, 200,000 square feet of office space and 40,000 square feet of retail space.
Find out more about what's coming to the neighborhood
April 3, 2017

Queens Astoria Cove waterfront site on the market for $350 million ahead of expected 421-a renewal

A 2.2 million-square-foot mixed-use development site known as Astoria Cove, on nearly nine acres along the East River in Astoria, is seeking a buyer, asking $350 million, Crain's reports. The site hit the market in mid-March in anticipation of the reinstatement of the 421-a affordable housing tax credit program that had languished since its expiration over a year ago amid debates between the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) and unions on whether to require higher wages in certain cases. Alma Realty Corp. hired Cushman & Wakefield investment company to market the site; according to sales executive Bob Knakal, "We wouldn't have hit the market with Astoria Cove in the past 16 months because of the uncertainty around 421-a, but there's been a sense of optimism in recent weeks that 421-a will be back and with it, the land market will strengthen."
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March 27, 2017

Eight chances to live in a new East Williamsburg building, from $985/month

A state-of-the-art fitness center, yoga room, roof deck with cabanas, designer interiors, and a prime East Williamsburg location just a few blocks from the G, M, J, and L trains--this is all up for grabs for eight qualifying New Yorkers at 73 Montrose Avenue through the city's affordable housing lottery as of today. Those earning 60 percent of the area media income can apply for $985/month one-bedrooms and $1,114/month two-bedrooms.
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March 24, 2017

432 Park would have generated $30M for affordable housing with de Blasio’s mansion tax

Outside of 432 Park Avenue, Mayor de Blasio held a press conference on Thursday to discuss his mansion tax. The proposal calls for a 2.5 percent surcharge on sales of city homes valued at $2 million or more, which would in turn fund affordable housing for 25,000 senior citizens. De Blasio fittingly positioned himself outside 432 Park because, according to the city, if the proposed tax had been passed, this residence alone would have generated $30.2 million since 2015 in support of housing for low-income seniors. "And that would have been based--and this is stunning to me--on the sale of just 62 condominiums. But it would have meant enough money to subsidize affordable housing for 2,000 seniors," he said.
Find out more here
March 24, 2017

New renderings revealed for NYCHA’s raised earth Red Hook Houses by KPF

When Superstorm Sandy hit the community of Red Hook, thousands of residents were left without power and basic necessities for over two weeks. The neighborhood’s infrastructure suffered substantial damage, with almost all basement mechanical rooms destroyed. In an effort to rebuild Brooklyn’s largest housing development, Red Hook Houses, post-Sandy, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) commissioned a project by architecture firm Kohn Pederson Fox (KPF). Their “Lily Pad” design includes installing 14 “utility pods” that deliver heat and electricity to each building, as well as creating raised earth mounds to act as a flood barrier (h/t Archpaper).
Find out more here
March 24, 2017

Apply for 25 units at new affordable/supportive housing project in Brownsville, from $876/month

The Van Dyke Houses in Brownsville are a huge NYCHA compex, consisting of 24 buildings. Recently, a $56 million public/private investment went towards constructing the first new development here in decades, a 100-unit supportive and affordable housing building designed by Dattner Architects for a vacant parking lot on the site. Of these apartments, 45 will be leased to NYCHA tenants through a site-based waiting list, 30 to formerly homeless families, and 25 to those earning 60 percent of the area median income. This last group is now available through the city's housing lottery for $876/month one-bedrooms and $1,058/month two-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify here
March 22, 2017

Comptroller Scott Stringer lays out plan for NYC to invest in its seniors

Photo via Gary Knight/Flickr Like many cities across the country, New York City’s population is getting older. Today, more than 1.1 million adults over 65, nearly 13 percent of the city’s total population, live in the five boroughs, a number which is expected to rise to over 1.4 million by 2040. In response to both this growth and the Trump administration’s budget cuts to beneficial senior programs like Medicaid and Medicare, City Comptroller Scott Stringer released a new report detailing policies that invest in the city’s seniors (h/t Metro NY).
Find out more here
March 20, 2017

Senior musicians may lose affordable housing at Bronx Commons

The $160 million Bronx Commons mixed-use development, located in the borough's Melrose neighborhood, broke ground in January. When complete, it will combine affordable housing, retail, landscaped public space, and a 300-seat music and arts venue known as Bronx Music Hall. As 6sqft previously reported, the Hall was envisioned as a way to celebrate and revitalize "the deeply rooted history of cutting edge Bronx music," which nonprofit developers WHEDco and BFC Partners also hoped to address by setting aside 15 percent of the 305 below-market rate apartments for older musicians. But as the Times explains, despite the South Bronx's past as a hub for jazz and doo-wop music venues and sidemen, the city says this may be in violation of fair housing laws that prohibit preferences based on age or race.
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March 20, 2017

‘Paris-on-the-Gowanus’ rental launches affordable housing lottery, units from $833/month

When the Lightstone Group revealed their two-building, 700-unit, $350 million rental project at 363-365 Bond Street, right on the banks of the notoriously toxic Gowanus Canal, president Mitchell Hochberg said it was inspired by a residential project in the Canal Saint-Martin neighborhood in Paris that helped create a “newly hip atmosphere” near a similarly polluted waterway. Despite the area's Superfund status, the promise of living in a trendy, up-and-coming area surely appealed to many; when the lottery opened for the 86 affordable units at #365, nearly 60,000 people applied. Now, the lottery is opening for the 54 below-market rate apartments at the under-construction #363, ranging from $833/month studios to $1,082/two-bedrooms, available to those earning 60 percent of the area median income.
Find out if you qualify
March 15, 2017

NYCHA’s open space development plans move ahead with affordable senior housing in the South Bronx

As part of the New York City Housing Authority’s NextGen initiative--the controversial policy of partnering with private companies to develop housing on open space in existing public housing projects--an affordable senior development is coming to the South Bronx. As reported by NY Yimby, Mill Brook Terrace in Mott Haven will be a nine-story, 169-unit building at 570 East 137th Street and will be set aside for seniors who earn no more than 50 percent of the area media income, or less than $36,250. Designed by Perkins Eastman Architects, the building will include a 9,000-square-foot senior center on the ground floor, which will include a commercial kitchen, community space, activity room and an outdoor garden.
Find out more here
March 15, 2017

Governor Cuomo’s $1.4B Central Brooklyn plan stokes gentrification debate

Governor Cuomo announced a $1.4 billion initiative last week to bring resources like health care services and new jobs to Central Brooklyn. According to the governor, the plan, called “Vital Brooklyn,” will bring 7,600 jobs and more than 3,000 new affordable housing units to Brownsville, East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights. And while Cuomo’s administration found these neighborhoods to be some of the most disadvantaged in the state, residents worry about the possible gentrification and displacement effects (h/t NY Times).
Learn more about Vital Brooklyn here
March 14, 2017

Eight chances to live in East Williamsburg from $1,020/month

Starting tomorrow, New Yorkers earning between 50 and 60 percent of the area media income can apply for eight units in the heart of East Williamsburg. The apartments--six one-bedrooms for $1,020/month and two two-bedrooms for $1,224/month--are located at 845 Grand Street, a new contemporary rental building with high-end interiors and a bevy of trendy amenities, including a 4,000-square-foot roof deck with hammocks and a turf lawn, communal backyard, gym with yoga room, bike room, laundry room, and indoor lounge with pool tables.
See the interiors