Message from HDC President & Chair

Thanks to the dedicated efforts of countless individuals across government, nonprofit, and private sectors, the City financed more than 34,000 homes this year under the Housing New York plan.

Overall, HDC has contributed to roughly half of the 122,000 affordable homes created and preserved under Housing New York to date thanks, in part, to more than $8 billion in bond issuance since the start of the plan.

By engaging in collaborative partnerships and deploying innovative financing strategies, HDC helped to finance 44 projects in 2018 – enough to provide more than 44,500 New Yorkers with the safety and security of a home they can afford.

At new construction developments like Landing Road and Stone House, HDC is helping to provide formerly homeless New Yorkers and other vulnerable populations with the support and means to live their lives comfortably and with dignity.

We are fostering economic growth and opportunity in our neighborhoods through efforts to transform some of our city’s remaining vacant land into large-scale, mixed-use developments like the multi-phased Hunters Point South and Coney Island projects.

And, as we advance the goals of the accelerated Housing New York 2.0 plan, we are delivering on promises to our elders under the Seniors First program and protecting our communities with anti-displacement measures like those set forth in the Neighborhood Pillars program. We have also made great strides to secure the affordability of our existing affordable housing across the city, including our remaining Mitchell-Lama housing stock.

These accomplishments, of course, are made possible thanks to our many dedicated partners. Thanks to a truly collaborative effort, we are making the most of limited affordable housing resources and have made great strides in our advocacy to maximize the tools needed to meet the ever-growing demand for affordable housing across our city and nation.

We are proud to invite you to review HDC’s 2018 Annual Report featuring highlights of a year filled with so many remarkable achievements, and a year of record-breaking affordable housing production for New York City. HDC looks forward to joining you all as we continue our work to ensure New York remains a city for everyone.

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Setting Records, Making Good on Promises

In 2018, the City of New York experienced a record-breaking year of affordable housing production, with more than 34,000 homes financed towards the Mayor’s Housing New York plan. More than 60 percent of these homes will serve extremely and very low-income New Yorkers, including over 2,500 apartments set aside for New Yorkers coming out of shelter and more than 1,800 homes for seniors. Last year also marked the highest number of newly constructed homes in the City’s history, with more than 10,000 affordable units created. This brings the progress to date under the plan to almost 122,000 affordable homes created or preserved, with HDC contributing to roughly half of this production.

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Homeless and Supportive Housing

Among the 34,160 homes the City financed this year under the Housing New York plan, a record 2,500 have been dedicated to bringing formerly homeless households into safe apartments they can afford. With nearly 10,000 units set aside for homeless households since the plan’s inception, the City is providing more of the most vulnerable New Yorkers with the housing stability they need to get back on their feet. Approximately 4,770 of those homes are in supportive housing developments that offer services for New Yorkers with special needs.

Stone House was among the many supportive housing projects that completed this year. In partnership with the nonprofit organization Women In Need (WIN), HDC and HPD helped to finance this project under our Extremely Low & Low-Income Affordability Program (ELLA) and HPD’s Supportive Housing Loan Program (SHLP). Stone House serves 160 low and very low-income New Yorkers, including 96 formerly homeless households in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The City is always looking to find creative new solutions to support our most vulnerable populations. HDC was proud to join our nonprofit partners at Bowery Residents’ Committee (BRC) in 2018 to celebrate the completion of Landing Road Residences. This innovative project was financed under HDC and HPD’s ELLA and HPD’s SHLP programs and is notably the first project to be created under the City’s HomeStretch model. Located in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, Landing Road Residences provides a literal pathway from homelessness to stable housing through the co-location of a 200-bed transitional shelter and 135 units of permanently affordable housing.

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Public Sites

The landscape of the city has changed dramatically over the past several decades, with tens of thousands of once-abandoned and dilapidated properties now restored as privately-owned affordable housing. As a result, the footprint of developable land in New York City has diminished and relatively few sites remain. The City has worked hard to put remaining vacant lots to use as affordable housing, pushing forward important redevelopments of public land like those underway in Hunters Point South in Long Island City Queens and Coney Island in Brooklyn.

In 2018, HDC financed the construction of the North and South Towers at Hunters Point South utilizing the Mixed-Middle Income Program (M2). This transformative development will bring a mix of 1,194 affordable and market rate rental apartments, retail, community space, public open space, and a new school to Long Island City, Queens. The two towers will include 719 apartments that will be permanently affordable to very low- to middle-income households thanks to the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program (MIH), with 100 of these apartments set aside for low-income seniors. The project adds to the more than 2,000 affordable homes currently existing or under construction at Hunters Point South.

Construction kicked-off this year on the first 446-units of the multi-phased Coney Island project in Brooklyn, part of an urban renewal area that will ultimately include not just affordable housing, but recreational, cultural, and entertainment facilities, as well as infrastructure improvements that will generate jobs and greater economic opportunity for local residents. The first of three phases spanning three city blocks, this large-scale, mixed-use development will include extensive resiliency measures due to its proximity to the waterfront. Financed under HDC and HPD’s ELLA program and HPD’s Our Space Initiative, the project will include roughly 75 permanently affordable units under the Voluntary Inclusionary Housing (VIH) program. This first phase of development will also create a separately-financed new intake and office facility for the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA).

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Seniors First

The City’s Housing New York 2.0 plan, which accelerates and expands upon the initial goals of Housing New York, has placed programs like Seniors First at the forefront of its efforts to make sure our most vulnerable populations are not left behind. Over the course of the 12-year plan, Seniors First will provide 30,000 seniors with secure and affordable homes. In line with these efforts, this year HDC celebrated the completion of several senior affordable housing developments, including Beach Channel Senior in Far Rockaway, Queens, and Monsignor Alexius Jarka Hall in Williamsburg Brooklyn.

Beach Channel Senior Apartments includes 153 units of affordable housing dedicated to residents 62 years of age and older, with 46 units reserved for formerly homeless seniors referred from NYCHA. A social worker with our partners at The North East Brooklyn Housing Development Corporation (NEBHDCo) will provide a range of comprehensive services to tenants based on their needs. Financed under HDC and HPD’s ELLA and HPD’s SARA programs, this newly constructed senior development has been designed to address the reality of storm-related flooding threats of this coastal community in addition to incorporating Enterprise Green Communities building standards.

Also celebrated this year was the preservation of Monsignor Alexius Jarka Hall, which was co-developed by two local non-profit organizations, the People’s Fire House and St. Nick’s Alliance. Jarka Hall had not experienced major repair work since its construction in the early 1990s. Thanks to refinancing provided under HDC’s Preservation program, Jarka Hall received critical repairs and will benefit from 35 years of extended affordability, ensuring the 63 senior households residing here continue to be an integral part of the evolving Williamsburg community.

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Neighborhood Pillars

The creation of neighborhood-based anti-displacement strategies was introduced as a key pillar of Housing New York 2.0 to protect residents most at risk of losing their affordable homes. In line with this goal, HDC was a key partner in the 2018 launch of the Neighborhood Pillars program, which aims to stabilize communities by helping local mission-driven and non-profit organizations finance the acquisition and rehabilitation of existing rent-regulated buildings. Through a $275 million public-private fund, this new tool will fund the acquisition of small to mid-size unregulated or rent stabilized buildings with a target of approximately 7,500 homes over the next 8 years.

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Mitchell-Lama Preservation

Furthering the anti-displacement efforts set forth in Housing New York 2.0, the City continues to deliver on its commitment to secure the affordability of our remaining Mitchell-Lama developments. In 2018 alone, 11 Mitchell-Lama projects totaling 14,859 affordable units were preserved – the large majority of which were made possible, in part, thanks to HDC financing. Many of the 33,937 Mitchell-Lama rental and cooperatively owned homes that have been protected since the start of the housing plan are located in increasingly high-cost neighborhoods and would otherwise be at risk of being lost to market if not for the refinancing tools provided under HDC’s Mitchell-Lama Reinvestment Program (MLRP). Projects like Masaryk Towers in the Lower East Side, Franklin Plaza in East Harlem, and Lindsay Park in Williamsburg were among the Mitchell-Lamas refinanced in 2018 under MLRP, receiving much-needed renovations and extended regulatory agreements that will protect their affordability for at least another generation.

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Pushing for Change at the Federal Level

HDC plays a significant role in industry-wide advocacy efforts that aim to protect the resources that allow us to deliver safe, stable, and affordable homes to New Yorkers. Together with our partners, we achieved significant policy advancements in 2018 through the introduction of new tools like income averaging and the expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program that will enable us to serve more individuals and families in New York City. And while we made great strides this year on the legislative front, with a growing nation-wide housing crisis there is still more to be done. HDC continues to call for the expansion of affordable housing private activity bonds (PABs) and low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) so that more individuals at home and across the country struggling to make ends meet can live with greater economic stability.

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