Rendering of Archer Green, a new 100 percent affordable mixed-use development in Jamaica, Queens. Image Credit: NYCEDC
The addition furthers the City’s goal of financing 200,000 affordable households by the end of the de Blasio administration. On December 3, 2021, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) announced the creation of an additional 1,221 affordable homes between two completed projects in Queens and two projects that have broken ground in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
5241 and 5203 Center Boulevard at Hunter’s Point South in Long Island City, Queens include 719 permanently affordable homes. One hundred of these units will be set aside for low-income seniors who will receive on-site services from Selfhelp Community Services. The buildings feature fitness centers, a children’s playroom, lounge spaces, a BBQ terrace, bike storage and a co-working space. The two buildings are a part of a master planned mixed use development that includes a park, school and playground. The public park will be 22,000 square feet, and the buildings will have 8,900 square feet of street-front retail space. HPD is in the process of working with the School Construction Authority to build a 572-seat school serving Kindergarten through the 8th grade and a playground for the neighborhood.
Archer Green, located at 92-23 168th Street in Jamaica, Queens, is a 100 percent affordable housing development with 387 affordable units. The units are offered to residents between 40 to 130 percent area median income (AMI). The building features a laundry room, a 15,000 square foot community space, bike parking, a fitness room, and features the low-cost grocery store ALDI as its commercial tenant. The space was formerly an underutilized parking garage.
Bed-Stuy North and Central Phase I is a development of eleven new buildings spread out across thirteen lots that will create twenty affordable homes for rent and eleven opportunities for affordable homeownership across the Bed-Stuy neighborhood in Brooklyn. Nine three-family and two two-family buildings will be created. The new homes will be available to households at 80 to 130 percent AMI. The homes are being constructed through the Open Door program, which funds the new construction of affordable cooperative and condominium buildings for moderate and middle income households.
1840-1846 Anthony Avenue in the Tremont neighborhood of the Bronx will renovate three buildings owned by non-profit developer Jericho Project to create 84 units of supportive housing for formerly homeless households. The center building, 1842 Anthony Avenue, will be renovated to create 22 new units and connect all three buildings with a wheelchair-accessible entrance, community space and a garden. Jericho Project’s supportive services are also tailored to help LGBTQI+ young adults.
The total 1,221 affordable units added between these four projects helps advance the City’s goal of expanding affordable housing citywide. As a part of the City’s plan Your Home NYC, the City aims to finance 300,000 affordable homes by 2026, which includes 200,000 affordable homes financed by the end of the de Blasio administration.
HPD Commissioner Louise Carroll stated, “The Mayor’s Housing Plan is focused on creating quality affordable homes that give all New Yorkers the chance to thrive – whether that means accessing supportive services to get back on their feet, renting in the neighborhood they love, or buying a home to build intergenerational wealth. This week, we celebrated four projects that run the gamut, all of which meet our high design standards to promote sustainability, equity, accessibility, and community.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the CityLaw fellow and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)