Affordable Housing Lottery Opens for Pet-Friendly East New York Units Starting at $730 a Month

An affordable housing lottery has opened for 22 studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments in an almost finished development on the corner of Warwick Street and Pitkin Avenue in East New York.

The new six-story building at 410 Warwick Street, dubbed Concern Pitkin, has a total of 58 apartments, all truly affordable. They include more than 30 supportive and senior apartments as well as a superintendent’s unit, according to a Department of Buildings permit.

The listing on NYC Housing Connect says the supportive units will be permanent, affordable housing with on-site support services for vulnerable residents, including the formerly homeless and disabled. “Sixty percent of units in supportive housing are set aside for low-income or formerly homeless individuals or families with special needs, who are referred by city agencies,” the listing reads.

Included in the lottery are two studio, 15 one-bedroom, and five two-bedroom apartments for households of one to five people who earn anywhere between $0 and $91,500 a year. While the listing says incomes must be between 40 and 60 percent of the area median, there are eight one-bedroom apartments backed by the project-based voucher system, meaning tenants do not have to have an income to qualify and their rent will be covered by city vouchers. The remainder are renting for between $730 and $1,581 a month.

Apartments will be equipped with “high-end” countertops and other finishes, hardwood floors, and air conditioning, the listing says. The pet-friendly building also includes a community room, gym, computer room, shared laundry, and outdoor patio. It has security cameras, a security guard, bike parking, an elevator, and an accessible entrance. It is smoke free.

Heat and hot water are included, but tenants are responsible for paying for electricity, including for the electric stove, according to the listing.

The building is being constructed through the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Supportive Housing Loan program, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and the Inclusionary Housing program, the listing says.

Housing nonprofit Concern for Independent Living executive director Ralph Fonso is listed as the building’s owner in permits through Concern Pitkin LLC. City records show the LLC took over the deed to the property in 2019, paying $2.25 million, and then transferred it to Concern Pitkin Housing Development Fund Corporation. The nonprofit enlisted Urban Architectural Initiatives to design the project, permits show.

The corner site at Warwick Street and Pitkin Avenue has sat empty since at least 2008. A holding corporation took over the deed from a private owner in 2002, and sold the site to Concern for Independent Living. A 1980s tax photo shows the site formerly contained a two-story house.

Over the past year, a handful of affordable housing lotteries have opened for truly affordable and supportive developments in East New York. The median time it takes a person to move into supportive housing after being deemed eligible is now 153 days, down from 169 days in fiscal year 2022, Politico reported this week.

The lottery for the apartments closes on November 14. To apply, visit the listing on Housing Connect.

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