Brownsville Affordable Project Gets State Funding
Last Thursday, the boards of the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation (AHC) and the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA) approved $181.6 million in financing today to build and preserve 2,060 units of affordable housing throughout New York State. One of the lucky projects was a 161-unit development slated to be built at…
Last Thursday, the boards of the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation (AHC) and the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA) approved $181.6 million in financing today to build and preserve 2,060 units of affordable housing throughout New York State. One of the lucky projects was a 161-unit development slated to be built at 39 Hegeman Avenue in Brownsville. The project—which received $30.75 million in funding—will provide studio apartments for low-income individuals and homeless single adults from Brownsville; a hundred apartments will be set aside for formerly homeless adults who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS or mental illness. The Hegeman project is part of Common Ground‘s neighborhood-based homelessness prevention effort in Brownsville one of New York City’s poorest communities, where disproportionate numbers of residents become homeless. A full press release is here.
Hi East New York,
I HAVE been to Brownsville. I’m just saying imagine if you were to build the same building in Flushing, and everyone in the rendering was chinese. True, Flushing has a population of mostly Chinese people. But still, don’t you think it’s a little weird?
Rob, in this case you’re very wrong. This project is right across the street from Brookdale Medical Center.
I don’t have a problem with affordable housing units being provided within an otherwise luxury development. I do have a real problem when the provision of affordable housing is done as a bailout of the developer, as a way to prop up prices. The real way to increase the stock of affordable housing is to increase the stock of housing, period, and let supply and demand work to set the market. Price support in the form of bailouts for luxury developers is contrary to this.
Anyone looking to revitaize a new area could aim right for Brownsville, the housing stock there is ghastly.
Trying to recall Act 2 of scenarios where homeless people are housed in developments like this…I just don’t know enought about the homeless issue sadly.
“the only people in front of the building are african american? Doesn’t that make way too many assumptions?”
No, because most of the people who live in Brownsville are African-American. I can say that as I’m almost certainly one of the few posters here who’s spent time in Brownsville.
Isn’t it a little weird that in the architectural rendering, the only people in front of the building are african american? Doesn’t that make way too many assumptions?
the only problem i could see with this kind of plan is that the kinds of services (medical, psychological, etc) arent that convenient or readily available in brownsville. i might be very wrong with that tho..
*rob*
Joe the bummer – go to the head of the class. You get a grade of A++.
Now this makes sense to me. This is the point of affordable housing. Putting some money into a poor area, increasing the housing stock, giving people more affordable options, and getting people off the streets are all good things.
Whoever made the leap that affordable “units” should be wedged into luxury condos in top neighborhoods and then auctioned off was off his rocker. or paid.
If people are going to get a housing handout from our tax dollars, you shouldn’t expect it to be in brooklyn heights, right? There should be an incentive: you start in brownsville. If you work hard and save money, you should have a path from projects to partially supported, to market rate, in progressively nicer areas.
Increasing the housing stock at the low end helps make housing more affordable for everyone — supply is supply, and the ripple effect can be felt well into the middle class. When the city just buys and auctions off luxury units it achieves that supply effect much more expensively, and worse, reverses the incentive for peoplee to work for what they get.
Christine Quinn, take your HARP money and hand it over to Brownsville.
definitely.
*rob*