A $34 million affordable housing development is rising in Crown Heights, Governor Kathy Hochul announced Thursday.
The building, dubbed Park Place, will include 43 mixed-income apartments including eight supportive homes for families dealing with homelessness and a healthcare facility. Developers plan to erect a five-story building on top of a parking lot currently owned by One Brooklyn Health. The health center will operate on the ground floor and provide primary care, including dental work, to adults and children.
This development is a part of the state’s Vital Brooklyn Initiative, an all-inclusive program addressing social, economic and health gaps in highly populated Brooklyn neighborhoods.
“Park Place is the latest development in our comprehensive plan to expand access to essential services and quality, affordable housing in Central Brooklyn’s underserved neighborhoods,” Hochul said in a statement. “As my announcement in Brooklyn earlier this week made clear, my administration is doing everything it can to address the housing needs of our neighborhoods like Crown Heights to make New York more livable and more affordable for generations to come.”
All 43 apartments at Park Place will be affordable under state definitions. According to New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, housing is considered affordable if it costs about one-third or less of what the people living there earn. The city uses a scale called Area Median Income to determine levels of affordability
The Park Place development will be reserved for locals making between the 30% to 80% of New York City’s AMI — for a family of four, that’s between $42,360 to $112,960 annually.
Median household income in Crown Heights is between $65,00-$72,000 annually, per city data, though nearly one-quarter of households earn just 30% AMI. Less than 20% of apartments in the nabe currently are considered “affordable” to people earning 30% AMI.
Some of the amenities for residents include laundry and community rooms, a landscaped terrace with outdoor play equipment and free Wi-Fi as a part of the Governor’sConnectALL initiative, which works to deliver high-speed internet in underserved communities.
The housing expansion is also a part of the governor’s $25 billion housing plan to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes across the state, including 10,000 for underprivileged communities.
Financing for the project includes $15.9 million in federal and state Low Income Housing Tax Credits, a nationwide system used to create affordable housing. Additional funding came from the New York State Homes and Community Renewal, who provided a $10.6 million subsidy and the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance who funded $3.1 million through the Homeless Housing and Assistance Program.
Daniel W. Tietz, commissioner for the state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, said the project addresses a larger concern of financial and societal disparities.
“While there may be several factors that contribute to someone experiencing chronic homelessness, entrenched socio-economic disparities is certainly a driver,” Tietz said. “When completed, Park Place will help to address these disparities in Crown Heights by providing stable, affordable homes alongside the supportive services and facilities individuals and families often need to remain stably housed.”
