Income-Eligible New Yorkers Displaced From their Homes Due To Storm Damage Receive 25% Preference in Lotteries for Low-Income Affordable Housing
Brooklyn, N.Y. – February 20, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Mathew M. Wambua today announced that the agency has instituted a 25 percent preference for units in City-subsidized affordable housing developments for income-eligible New Yorkers displaced from their homes by Hurricane Sandy. One of the first developments to be subject to the preference is Coney Island Commons, a new affordable housing development now being marketed in Coney Island, Brooklyn. All units are subject to a lottery managed by the developer and overseen by HPD and the City’s Housing Development Corporation (HDC).
Coney Island Commons is being developed as part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan (NHMP). The NHMP is a multi-billion dollar initiative to finance 165,000 units of affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers by the close of Fiscal Year 2014. For every dollar invested by the City, the Plan has leveraged $3.43 in private funding for a total commitment of more than $21 billion to fund the creation or preservation of over 143,305 units of affordable housing across the five boroughs, with more than 35,709 units financed in Brooklyn. Through FY 12, approximately $4.8 billion has been invested in Brooklyn through the NHMP.
“It’s an imperative to provide relief to those most in need,” said HPD Commissioner Wambua. “Every effort we make to connect those displaced by Sandy to interim or permanent housing is another step in regaining stability and moving the recovery process forward.”
“The destruction caused by Sandy has made it very difficult for many low-income families to find affordable housing. This initiative is a creative way to utilize the City’s available resources to solve that problem,” said Brad Gair, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations.
Coney Island Commons, near Surf Avenue, is currently accepting applications. Completed applications must be returned by regular mail only and must be postmarked by March 26th, 2013. Qualified applicants will be required to meet income and family size guidelines and additional selection criteria. To request an application, mail a post card to Coney Island Commons, c/o: ELH Mgmt. LLC 3rd FL, 98 Rockwell Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217. Or download the application from www.coneyislandcommons.com. As per the City’s affordable housing lottery rules, current and eligible residents of Brooklyn Community Board 13 will receive preference for 50 percent of the units. In addition, income-eligible applicants who can document displacement by Hurricane Sandy and/or its related storms will receive preference for 25 percent of the units.
Located at 2960 West 29th Street and 2961 West 30th Street in Coney Island, Brooklyn, Coney Island Commons will have a total of 195 units—39 of which will be set aside for the homeless. The remaining 156 apartments will be affordable to households earning up to 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI)—equal to a household income of $49,800/year for a family of four. Of the 156 apartments, there is a preference for qualified households displaced by Hurricane Sandy for 39 units in the building. There are a total of 20 studio units, 55 one-bedroom units and 80 two-bedroom units, with one unit set aside for the superintendent. The anticipated completion date for the development is summer of 2013.
Coney Island Commons will have a new community center that includes a gymnasium, pool, physical fitness facility, and youth programming to be operated by the YMCA of Greater New York. Connecting the entire facility will be a 76-space, parking garage, with a landscaped roof terrace dedicated to recreational use for the tenants.
The City of New York requires that subsidized apartments be rented through an Open Lottery System to ensure fair and equitable distribution of housing to eligible applicants. Marketing of the apartments and the application process for the lottery typically begin when construction is approximately 70 percent complete. For more information regarding the lottery process, current housing lotteries, how to apply to an open lottery, and if you would like to receive an e-mail when HPD updates its available apartment and home website listings for City-subsidized housing in the five boroughs, please visit the Apartment Seekers and Homebuyers pages at www.nyc.gov.
The total development cost for Coney Island Commons is $79.5 million. HPD provided $15.1 million in City Capital. A total of $8.1 million in Reso A funds were provided by the Mayor’s Office, Councilmember Recchia, and Borough President Markowitz. HDC contributed tax-exempt bonds in the amount of $39.5 million in construction financing as well as $12.7 million from its corporate reserves. Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LITHC) equity in the amount of $30.6 million will be syndicated by Richman Housing Group. In addition, the YMCA’s contributed $2.2 million.
The project was developed by Kretchmer Companies and partners.
About the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)
HPD is the nation’s largest municipal housing preservation and development agency. Its mission is to promote quality housing and viable neighborhoods for New Yorkers through education, outreach, loan and development programs and enforcement of housing quality standards. It is responsible for implementing Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan to finance the construction or preservation of 165,000 units of affordable housing by 2014. Since the plan’s inception, more than 143,305 affordable homes have been created or preserved. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/hpd
About the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations
The Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations is committed to planning and implementing innovative and effective solutions to the housing needs caused by Hurricane Sandy. Through NYC Rapid Repairs, the City has already completed emergency repairs on more than 17,000 residences. These emergency repairs are free of charge and include the restoration of heat, power and hot water and other limited repairs to protect a home from further significant damage.
About the NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC)
Since 2000, HDC has issued roughly 10% of all the multi-family housing revenue bonds in the U.S. and since 2003, when Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan was launched, HDC has raised more than $6.7 billion in financing for affordable housing developments, including in excess of $1 billion in subsidy from corporate reserves. In Affordable Housing Finance magazine’s annual listing of the nation’s top ten funders of multifamily housing, HDC is the only municipal entity on the list. In 2012, HDC was the fourth largest affordable housing lender in the U.S. after Citi, Wells Fargo and Bank of America, beating out JPMorgan Chase and Capital One. To date, under the Mayor’s plan, HDC has financed the creation or preservation of more than 67,000 affordable units in multi-family buildings that also include 1.7 million square feet of commercial space. For additional information, visit: www.nychdc.com
