City OKs “100 Percent Affordable” Private Development At Ingersoll And Other NYCHA Houses

A new city plan will have 100 percent affordable housing units come to three New York City Public Housing Authority (NYCHA) sites — one of which is Ingersoll Houses.

The project — one part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 10-year NextGeneration NYCHA affordable housing plan — will allow private developers to build at Ingersoll, as well as at the Van Dyke Houses in Brownsville and the Mill Brook Houses in Mott Haven (the Bronx). A request-for-proposals has been issued to potential developers, who have until 4pm on Wednesday, September 30 to submit their proposals.

Between the three projects, at least 400-500 units of affordable housing is planned — just a fraction of de Blasio’s goal of 200,000 affordable units by 2024. All of it must be rent-stabilized and compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, and must be open only to senior citizens and families who meet the “affordable housing threshold.”

In this case, “affordable housing” is defined as 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), which currently (for 2015) is $51,780 for a family of four. New York City’s AMI is $86,300.

However, the average income level of households at the Ingersoll Houses is $23,889, according to NYCHA. That’s not just far below the city AMI, but also far below the AMI for the Community Board 2 neighborhood ($71,754), which is skewed because it includes Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights.

The Ingersoll development site is a 11,500 square foot patch of parking lot and green space at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and St. Edwards Street — diagonally across from the northwest corner of Fort Greene Park.

Development proposals will be chosen based on the following selection criteria: financial feasibility (35 percent), development experience (30 percent), quality of building and urban design (25 percent), affordability and optional community facility plan (10 percent).

As for what local residents think, some are optimistic about the rent-stabilized aspect, as Sheryl Morse was earlier this year when de Blasio announced his Housing New York plan at the nearby Navy Yard Houses.

“We are looking to not just survive, but live,” she added. “There has to be a partnership of not just bricks, but bricks, people, and money. [These city] numbers sound good, but numbers have a [positive] impact on our community.”

However, many Ingersoll residents want to make sure that they continue to have a voice in this process every step of the way. As Ingersoll Tenants Association Vice President Darold Burgess told us, they are planning to discuss the issue at an upcoming board meeting and at a planned meeting with Public Advocate Letitia James.

The Housing New York plan aims for 200,000 affordable units to be sustained or constructed by 2024. Approximately 60 percent of these will be preservation of existing units and roughly 40 percent will be newly constructed affordable units.