Affordable Housing

Lottery opens for first affordable units at Essex Crossing, from $519/month

March 2, 2017

Lottery opens for first affordable units at Essex Crossing, from $519/month

It's been almost exactly a year since Beyer Blinder Belle released renderings of Essex Crossing's site 5, a $110 million, 15-story mixed-use building that will give way to 73,000 square feet of retail space, where Trader Joes and Planet Fitness will move in, and a 15,000-square-foot adjacent park. Located just a block southwest of the Manhattan entrance of the Williamsburg Bridge at 145 Clinton Street, it will have 211 rental units, half of which will be reserved for low- and middle-income individuals. These 104 affordable apartments are now available through the city's online housing lottery, the first of the mega-development's 561 affordable residences to come online. They're set aside for those earning 40, 60, 120, and 165 percent of the area media income and range from $519/month studios to $3,424/month three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Mayor de Blasio to unveil plan to open 90 new homeless shelters amid growing community opposition

February 28, 2017

Mayor de Blasio to unveil plan to open 90 new homeless shelters amid growing community opposition

By Michelle Cohen

The exact details of the mayor's proposal, to be announced Tuesday afternoon, are not yet known, but the focus will undoubtedly be the mayor's ongoing battle to significantly beef up the city's overwhelmed shelter system, according to the New York Times. New York–along with Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C,– has experienced an increase in homelessness in recent years, though the number of homeless people has declined nationwide. The city's shelter infrastructure is over capacity to the point that, as 6sqft previously reported, around $400,000 a day is being spent on using hotel rooms as temporary shelters. Homelessness is one of the mayor's thorniest problems; the proposal will reportedly increase the number of shelters throughout the city by nearly one third.
Why the opposition?

120 more affordable units available at the Bronx’s Compass Residences complex, from $822/month

February 24, 2017

120 more affordable units available at the Bronx’s Compass Residences complex, from $822/month

Back in 2011, Dattner Architects created the West Farms Redevelopment Plan, a rezoning (the largest ever in the Bronx at the time) of a 17-acre, 11-block former industrial area in Crotona Park East. The plan calls for a total of 1,325 affordable housing units, 46,000 square feet of retail, and community facilities. Dattner's first two buildings in the complex are called theCompass Residences, which provide 237 apartments arranged around a series of courtyards. This past December, 114 of these residences at 1544 Boone Avenue came online through the city's affordable housing lottery, and now, 120 more at 1524 Boone Avenue are open to New Yorkers earning 60 and 90 percent of the area median income, ranging from $822/month studios to $1,740/month three-bedrooms.
Find out here if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Design team suggests a new mission-driven gentrification model geared toward artists and small businesses

Image: mx.org

February 23, 2017

Design team suggests a new mission-driven gentrification model geared toward artists and small businesses

By Michelle Cohen

We’ve definitely seen a lifetime’s worth of the trajectory that runs from warehouse to art studio to luxury loft, starting with neighborhoods like Soho and picking up speed as developers got into the act, anticipating the next "it" enclave with manageable rents attracting the young and creative. A team of New York-based designers developed a proposal for reaping the benefits of economic growth in the city's industrial areas without pricing out all but the wealthiest players. Soft City reports the details of this “mission-driven gentrification” concept, which suggests an all-new development model for the city's manufacturing neighborhoods (known as M1 districts), helmed by mission-based organizations and a building typology that caters to small businesses and artists.
Bright ideas, this way

Health-focused supportive and affordable housing complex breaks ground in the Bronx

February 23, 2017

Health-focused supportive and affordable housing complex breaks ground in the Bronx

Yesterday, mental health nonprofit Community Access broke ground on a new, $52.2 million supportive and affordable housing complex in the Mount Eden neighborhood of the Bronx. Located at 111 East 172nd Street, the building has 126 units, 60 of which will be set aside for Medicaid high-need individuals with mental health concerns and 65 for low-income families. It incorporates sustainable elements such as solar panels and a co-generation plant, as well as health-focused amenities like a community garden and kitchen to encourage and teach about healthy eating, outdoor exercise equipment, and a bike sharing program.
Find out more

New bill would calculate AMI for affordable housing based on zip code, not region

February 21, 2017

New bill would calculate AMI for affordable housing based on zip code, not region

To set qualification guidelines for its affordable housing lotteries, the city turns to the set area median income (AMI), basing annual household income and rents off this figure. However, as The Real Deal explains, "the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development calculates AMI regionally, "using a formula that lumps the five boroughs together with Putnam, Westchester, and Rockland counties." For 2016, this equated to $65,200 for a single person and $90,600 for a family of four, but a new bill proposed by Democratic State Senator Michael Gianaris and Assemblymember Brian Barnwell would require developers of new 421-a projects to calculate AMI based on the specific zip code in which the building is going up.
More info ahead

More basement apartments would help ease the city’s housing crisis, says new study

February 17, 2017

More basement apartments would help ease the city’s housing crisis, says new study

By Michelle Cohen

A study released Thursday by the Citizens Housing and Planning Council (CHPC) suggests that Mayor Bill de Blasio's initiatives to ease the city's housing woes should include a program that would convert the 38,000 or so basements in the city's single-family homes without having to make big changes to city or state laws. As Crain's reports, the study is part of the CHPC’s Making Room initiative that explores how alternative housing typologies can better meet the needs of New York’s diverse households. The council introduced the study by stating their belief that "based on the ﬁndings we present here, that a basement conversion program in New York City would be an eﬃcient and exciting way to add residential density and expand housing choices in our expensive and highly constrained urban market."
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227 COOKFOX-designed affordable apartments up for grabs near the NY Botanical Garden and Bronx Zoo

February 15, 2017

227 COOKFOX-designed affordable apartments up for grabs near the NY Botanical Garden and Bronx Zoo

Starting today, 227 brand new affordable apartments are up for grabs at 4275 Park Avenue in the Bronx. The residence, dubbed Park House, is a new construction designed by COOKFOX Architects and developed by Breaking Ground, a non-profit organization that matches low-income New Yorkers with homes. Park House is the first affordable project undertaken by the organization and will offer energy-efficient studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments priced between $494 and $1181 to qualifying applicants earning between 40 and 60 percent of the area median income.
more details here

Affordable Housing

February 13, 2017

De Blasio’s 2017 affordable housing plan includes $1.9B for 10,000 new units and Elder Rent Assistance program

In preparation for his State of the City address this evening at the Apollo, the Mayor announced two major affordable housing initiatives. The first will allocate $1.9 billion for 10,000 new apartments reserved for households earning less than $40,000, 5,000 of which will be set aside for seniors and 500 for veterans. The second implements a new Elder Rent Assistance program to provide 25,000 seniors with monthly rental assistance of up to $1,3000, to be funded by the city's proposed Mansion Tax.
More details ahead

143 chances to live in Downtown Brooklyn from $897/month, lottery open at 33 Bond Street

February 13, 2017

143 chances to live in Downtown Brooklyn from $897/month, lottery open at 33 Bond Street

A new 25-story rental building in booming Downtown Brooklyn is nearing completion at 33 Bond Street, just a block or two away from almost every subway line and a few blocks from BAM. Developer TF Cornerstone paid $70 million for the site, a former parking garage, in early 2014, partnering with Handel Architects on the rather standard, bulky, glassy design. In total, there will be 714 apartments, 143 of which have been set aside as affordable. These below-market rate units are now up for grabs through the city's affordable housing lottery and range from $897/month studios to $1,166/two-bedrooms for households earning 60 percent of the area median income.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Popular Articles

Proposed East Harlem mixed-use development may contain city’s tallest building with affordable housing

February 9, 2017

Proposed East Harlem mixed-use development may contain city’s tallest building with affordable housing

Looking to take advantage of the newly opened Second Avenue Subway stop at 96th Street, the New York City Educational Construction Fund and AvalonBay Communities are working their way through the city approval process to build a 1.14 million-square foot, full-block, mixed-use development in East Harlem. CityRealty tells us that the project located at 321 East 96th Street would hold two new school buildings for three different local schools, 20,000 square feet of retail space, a rebuilt playground, and a 68-story, 760-foot residential tower that would offer between 1,100 and 1,200 units and possibly become the city's tallest building to contain affordable housing (roughly 330 below-market rate units).
More details and renderings

Massive Sendero Verde project will bring 655 affordable ‘passive house’ rentals to East Harlem

February 7, 2017

Massive Sendero Verde project will bring 655 affordable ‘passive house’ rentals to East Harlem

A massive, mixed-use development is moving ahead in East Harlem, reports Politico, as the city has selected Jonathan Rose Companies to work with L+M Development Partners on the 751,000-square-foot project. Dubbed Sendero Verde ("green pathway"), the site is located on the block bound by East 111th and 112th Streets and Park and Madison Avenues, and it will create 655 affordable passive house apartments, as well as a YMCA, job training center, 85,000-square-foot DREAM charter school, space for the local non-profit Union Settlement, a grocery store, restaurant, and preventative health care facility run by Mount Sinai.
All the details ahead

Five chances to live in burgeoning East Harlem for $985/month

February 7, 2017

Five chances to live in burgeoning East Harlem for $985/month

With the Second Avenue Subway sending Upper East Side real estate prices climbing as far north as 96th Street, East Harlem's upward trajectory is sure to only heat up. The former El Barrio has been on the cusp of gentrification since a 2003, 57-block rezoning that increased density allowances along First, Second, and Third Avenues, spurring a bevy of new residential projects. One such development is 2139 Third Avenue, a modern, 21-unit rental at the corner of 117th Street, which just launched its affordable housing lottery for five $985/month one-bedroom units, available to one- or two-person households earning no more than 60 percent of the area median income.
Have a look at the interiors

Affordable Housing

New Stuyvesant Town lottery opens for middle-income units from $2,805/month

February 6, 2017

New Stuyvesant Town lottery opens for middle-income units from $2,805/month

It's been almost a year since Stuyvesant Town opened a 15,000-name wait list for its affordable apartments, and they've now launched another lottery, this time for households earning between $84,150 and $149,490 annually. The availabilities are spread throughout Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village and include $2,805/month one-bedrooms and $3,366/month two-bedrooms.
Find out more

Affordable Housing

11 chances to live in the heart of Murray Hill for as low as $833/month

February 3, 2017

11 chances to live in the heart of Murray Hill for as low as $833/month

A little over two years ago, Charles Blaichman’s CB Developers began construction on a 19-story, mixed-use building at 210 East 39th Street. Designed by Rawlings Architects, the Murray Hill building has a ground-floor retail podium, glassy second-story amenity space, and terra cotta rainscreen-clad frame. In all, there will be 57 rental units, 11 of which are set aside for those earning no more than 60 percent of the area media income. These affordable apartments include one $833/month studio, seven $895/month one-bedrooms, and three $1,082/month two-bedrooms.
Find out more about the building and the lottery

Affordable Housing

Mixed-use affordable housing complex in the Bronx will feature Hunts Point Brewery and LightBox film studio

February 2, 2017

Mixed-use affordable housing complex in the Bronx will feature Hunts Point Brewery and LightBox film studio

A few months ago, 6sqft shared the first rendering of the Peninsula, a $300 million mixed-use complex slated to replace the Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. We learned that the five-acre site will hold 740 affordable apartments, open and recreational areas, light industrial space, community facilities like health care providers and artist workspace, and retail/commercial space. In addition to new conceptual renderings from WXY Architecture + Urban Design, the development team has now revealed details on who the borough-based commercial tenants will be, and they include Hunts Point Brewing Company, Il Forno Bakery, and LightBox-NY film studio.
More details and renderings

De Blasio pushes again for ‘mansion tax’ on home sales over $2M

January 30, 2017

De Blasio pushes again for ‘mansion tax’ on home sales over $2M

Mayor De Blasio will renew his call for a "mansion tax" before this state Legislature in Albany today, reports Politico. In support of rent subsidies for 25,000 low-income senior citizens, the mayor has detailed a proposal that will raise the property transfer tax to 2.5 percent for any sale above $2 million. “We are asking for some basic tax fairness from the wealthiest New Yorkers so low-income seniors can afford their rent and continue to call the greatest city in the world their home,” the mayor said in a statement.
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City says Cuomo’s ‘Affordable New York’ plan would cost an extra $820M

January 27, 2017

City says Cuomo’s ‘Affordable New York’ plan would cost an extra $820M

Governor Cuomo recently announced that his revised version of the city's 421-a tax exemption program would officially be moving forward. He said the initiative, dubbed "Affordable New York," would create 2,500 new affordable housing units per year, but a new study from the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development says this will come at a cost. As Politico reports, Cuomo's changes to the program would cost NYC an additional $820 million over 10 years if approved by the state Legislature, $82 million a year more than Mayor de Blasio's proposed 421-a overhaul in 2015.
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Lottery opens for 40 affordable units across Central Harlem, starting at $822/month

January 27, 2017

Lottery opens for 40 affordable units across Central Harlem, starting at $822/month

Second to the Bronx, Central Harlem has seen perhaps the most new affordable housing opportunities in the city. The latest is a 40-unit lottery spread across four buildings near Jackie Robinson Park--304 West 152nd Street, 232 West 149th Street, 2797 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, and 2472 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard. The units are available to those earning 50 or 60 percent of the area media income and range from $822/month studios to $1,371/month four-bedrooms.
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Affordable Housing

Live in John Catsimatidis’ curvy Downtown Brooklyn rental tower from $833/month

Rendering of 86 Fleet Place via Goldstein, Hill & West (L); Construction as of October 2016, via CityRealty

January 26, 2017

Live in John Catsimatidis’ curvy Downtown Brooklyn rental tower from $833/month

Way back in 1982, the CEO and owner of Red Apple Group, John Catsimatidis (you may know him better as the billionaire owner of Gristedes or for his failed Republican run in the last mayoral election) paid $500,000 for a 2.5-acre, four-block site in Downtown Brooklyn, on the western edge of Fort Greene. Thirty-five years later, construction is wrapping up on the final, and by far the tallest, of the four-tower development. The curving glass building at 86 Fleet Place was designed by Goldstein, Hill & West and will rise 32 stories/350 feet and house 440 rentals, 29 of which are set aside as affordable and have just come online through the city's affordable housing lottery. They range from $833/month studios to $1,247/month three-bedrooms and are available for those earning 45 to 60 percent of the area media income.
Find out if you qualify here

January 16, 2017

Cuomo dubs revised 421-a plan ‘Affordable New York,’ advances new legislation

A year after the city’s 421-a tax exemption program expired, a new version of the affordable housing incentive is officially moving forward. In August, Governor Cuomo released a new version of the plan that which include wage subsidies for construction workers and extended terms for the tax breaks, and after the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) reached an agreement in November to move ahead with this version, the Governor's office now reports that they'll be advancing new legislation to move ahead the program that's now been re-named "Affordable New York." Cuomo says this will create 2,500 new affordable housing units per year.
All the details this way

Bronx Commons will bring 305 affordable apartments and a new music venue to the South Bronx

January 13, 2017

Bronx Commons will bring 305 affordable apartments and a new music venue to the South Bronx

Not only did the Times recently name the South Bronx one of this year's hottest travel destinations, but the up-and-coming 'hood has become a hotbed for new development. Many of these include affordable housing, which is the case at Bronx Commons, a mixed-use development in the Melrose Commons neighborhood that broke ground this morning. The $160 million project includes 305 all-affordable apartments, retail, and a landscaped public plaza, all of which will be anchored by the Bronx Music Hall, a new 300-seat venue that will serve as an "arts-centered community hub focused on the deeply rooted history of cutting edge Bronx music," according to a press release from developers WHEDco and BFC Partners.
Find out more about the project

Third lottery opens at Pacific Park Brooklyn, apply for 303 affordable units from $532/month

January 13, 2017

Third lottery opens at Pacific Park Brooklyn, apply for 303 affordable units from $532/month

Last spring, the first housing lottery opened at Pacific Park Brooklyn when 181 affordable units at SHoP's 461 Dean Street (the world's tallest modular tower) came online. It was followed a few months later by 298 openings at 535 Carlton Avenue, COOKFOX's entirely affordable building, and now the third set of apartments for low- to middle-income New Yorkers is open. SHoP Architects also designed an all-affordable building at 38 Sixth Avenue, adjacent to the Barclays Center, and as of today these 303 residences are up for grabs, ranging from $532/month studios to $3,695/month three-bedrooms. Households earning between 101 and 165 percent of the area media income (or up to $173,415 annually) are eligible for 198 of the units, while 105 units are set aside for those earning between 30 and 100 percent (as low as $20,126 a year).
More details and the whole qualification breakdown

January 12, 2017

The city added 21,963 affordable housing units in 2016, the most in 27 years

When Mayor de Blasio took office in 2014, he vowed to build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing over 10 years, and so far, he's made good on his word, despite the loss of the city's controversial 421-a program. The Times reports that today the Mayor will announce that his administration has added 21,963 affordable units in 2016, the most since 1989. Of these apartments, 6,844 were in newly constructed buildings and roughly 4,400, or 20 percent, were reserved for low-income New Yorkers earning less than $25,000 (much more than the eight percent goal). More than 30 percent were in Manhattan, followed by 29 percent in both the Bronx and Brooklyn.
More details

Live in ODA’s new Crown Heights rental from $845/month, lottery opening for 24 units

January 11, 2017

Live in ODA’s new Crown Heights rental from $845/month, lottery opening for 24 units

It's been over two years since ODA Architects first released a rendering of their rental project at 1040 Dean Street (formerly 608 Franklin Avenue) in Crown Heights. Featuring the firm's signature glassy, boxy aesthetic, the eight-story, 133,582-square-foot project rose on part of the site of the shuttered Nassau Brewery, just a block away from hot-spot food hall Berg'n. Of its 120 units, 20 percent will be reserved for those earning no more than 60 percent of the area media income, and starting tomorrow, qualifying New Yorkers can apply to these affordable units, ranging from $845/month studios to $1,022 two-bedrooms.
Find out more

Affordable Housing

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