Via Flickr

Certain basement apartments in East New York will be transformed into legal and affordable homes thanks to a new law signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday. The legislation creates a three-year pilot program that helps homeowners renovate cellar and basement units to meet the new code standards, which include minimum ceiling heights, window sizes, and proper safety requirements. “There are thousands of basement apartments in our City, but too many are illegal and unsafe,” de Blasio said in a statement. “This program will help New Yorkers secure safe, affordable homes and give homeowners a new legal source of income.”

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Rendering courtesy of Think! Architecture and Design

Hoping to create affordable housing more quickly and at a lower cost, New York City is turning to cutting-edge construction methods. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced on Monday plans to develop 167 affordable housing units in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York using modular construction. The $70 million project would become the first under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York 2.0 program to use this method of building on property owned by the city. As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, officials think modular construction could reduce the project’s timeline by 25 to 30 percent.

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Via Practice for Architecture and Urbanism

A Christian megachurch in East New York is partnering with the Gotham Organization to redevelop their East New York campus into a mixed-income community, or “urban village” as Reverend A.R. Bernard calls it, of 2,100 affordable units and neighborhood amenities. The plan from the Christian Cultural Center, led by Bernard, will supplement the existing church at 12020 Flatlands Avenue in Brooklyn and create a community with CCC at its core.

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Rendering via Gluck+

Two years ago, the city and MacQuesten Development broke ground on Van Sinderen Plaza, a redevelopment of two vacant lots in East New York into a 155,000-square-foot mixed-use complex with 130 high-quality affordable apartments, as well as retail and community space. Located just off the New Lots Avenue stop on the L train, the two-building project was built for extremely low-, very low-, and low-income households, or those earning 30, 40, 50, or 60 percent of the area median income. Apartments range from $413/month one-bedrooms to $1,281/month three-bedrooms.

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A lottery is set to launch on Saturday for 240 affordable apartments in Brooklyn’s East New York neighborhood. The units are spread across a brand new mixed-use development, the Livonia Apartments, located at 453 Hinsdale Street, 500 Livonia Avenue, and 487 Livonia Avenue. Designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning (MAP), the four-building development sits adjacent to the L Train at Livonia Avenue. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 30, 40, 50 and 60 percent of the area median income can apply for the units, ranging from $395/month studios to $1,339/month three-bedrooms.

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Starrett City photo via Matt Green on Flickr, President Trump photo via Wikimedia

As he proposes funding cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s subsidized housing programs, President Donald Trump is set to gain millions of dollars from the sale of an affordable housing complex in East New York, best known as Starrett City. Investors, including Trump who owns a 4 percent stake in the development, sold the 46-building complex to two real estate firms for $906 million, ABC News reported Tuesday. Trump is set to profit about $36 million from the sale (an amount which could drop after mortgage costs and transfer taxes). Home to roughly 15,000 residents across 145 acres, Starrett City is the largest federally subsidized housing project in the country.

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Rendering via Dattner Architects

A mixed-use development will bring 1,165 fully-affordable units to the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York, an evolving community in need of new and preserved housing. Dattner Architects released this week new renderings of the development, dubbed Atlantic Chestnut after the two streets it will face (h/t CityRealty). The complex, which will include three 14-story buildings, sits on 4.5 acres and measures over a million square feet. The three buildings will be completed in successive phases, with the first scheduled to wrap up in 2020, the second in 2021 and the third in 2022.

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Rendering of Edwin’s Place via Robert AM Stern Architects

The New York City Planning Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a proposal for 125 affordable units designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects at 3 Livonia Avenue in Brownsville. The proposed Brooklyn development, called Edwin’s Place, would feature an eight-story building with 69 one-, two-, and three-bedroom units and 56 studios. Edwin’s Place is being developed by nonprofit partners Breaking Ground and the African American Planning Commission, Inc. The proposal, which won approval from Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Community Board 16, will move on to the City Council for a final review.

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Four years ago, the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation filed plans for a mixed-use building at 2501 Pitkin Avenue in East New York. The seven-story building known as the Pitkin Berriman Apartments has more than 3,000 square feet of street-level retail space that includes a grocery store, outdoor spaces such as a rear yard patio, playground, and garden, and affordable rentals. Those below-market-rate apartments are now available to low- and middle-income New Yorkers earning 40, 50, or 60 percent of the area median income through the city’s housing lottery. The 47 available units range from $558/month one-bedrooms to $1,224/month three-bedrooms.

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Starrett City photo via Matt Green on Flickr, President Trump photo via Wikimedia

The owners of Starrett City, the largest federally subsidized housing project in the country, recently announced they found a buyer for the $850 million Brooklyn development. Located in East New York, Starrett City sits on 145 acres and includes 5,881 affordable apartments for 15,000 residents. As the New York Times reported, President Donald Trump partially owns the housing development and will benefit from the sale of the property. Since the sale requires federal approval from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and state officials, this puts the president on both sides of the agreement, creating a potential conflict of interest for him.

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