Image Credit: HPD.
On October 7, 2022, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development joined City officials and community members to celebrate the opening of the Bishop Rene A. Valero Senior Residence at 23-11 31st Road in Astoria, Queens. The facility was developed by Catholic Charities Progress of Peoples Development Corporation, the affordable housing branch of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens.
The residence has 102 affordable units for low-income seniors and formerly homeless adults with severe mental illness. The thirty percent of units reserved for formerly homeless adults will be sponsored by the City’s 15/15 Supportive Housing Initiative, the City’s 2015 commitment to developing 15,000 units of supportive housing by 2030. The remaining units will be offered to seniors at up to 50 percent area median income. All units are supported with rental operating subsidies from the HUD Section 8 Project-Based Voucher program.
The building is six stories tall, with a resident’s lounge and exterior landscaped yard for recreation and gardening. The building will also be home to the relocated Catholic Charities Peter J. DellaMonica Older Adult Center. The center offers programming for seniors including fitness classes, educational forums, daily hot meals on-site, senior case management and referral services and will be operated by Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services.
Social Services Commissioner Gary P. Jenkins stated, “The Bishop Rene A. Valero Senior Residence represents the kind of affordable and supportive housing that provides some of our most vulnerable seniors with homes that are designed to not only ensure long term stability, but to allow residents to lead gratifying and healthy lives. Projects like this are essential to our ongoing efforts to connect New Yorkers in need to high-quality housing and supports. We are incredibly grateful for our partnership with Catholic Charities and all other partners involved in this project, and we look forward to continuing to work together to accomplish our shared goal of making New York City more equitable and affordable for all.”
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. stated, “In a time with such high demand for senior housing, including for supportive housing for formerly homeless seniors, the opening of the Bishop Rene A. Valero Senior Residence is a true blessing for our borough. This state-of-the-art facility, with its 102 affordable units and its many services and amenities, will be the warm and welcoming home that so many of seniors have been looking for so long. My heartfelt thanks goes to Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and all those who worked on this project, which will stand as a fitting tribute to Bishop Valero and his legacy of faith and service.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the CityLaw fellow and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018).