NYC will turn vacant land into 500 affordable homes

Just a day after a searing report questioned the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s inaction on vacant city-owned lots, the agency has now announced the construction of 490 affordable homes on some of those lots.

These affordable homes will rise on 87 different lots in various neighborhoods across the city namely Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York, Weeksville, Morrisannia, East Tremont, Morris Heights, Melrose, South Jamaica and the East Harlem. The developments are part of the agency’s New Infill Homeownership Opportunities Program (NIHOP) and Neighborhood Construction Program (NCP), programs specifically created to build on small or hard-to-develop lots.

“No site has gone overlooked, and we are pursuing innovative new programs and initiatives to put even the hardest to develop lots to use as affordable housing,” said HPD Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer.

Previously, the NIHOP and NCP programs have helped in the construction of 600 affordable homes on 81 city-owned lots in two different phases. This marks the final phase of development for these projects.

The affordable homes will be a mix of single-family houses, condos, and rentals, and HPD has already selected the development teams for each of the projects. Head on over to HPD’s website to get a full breakdown of where these new affordable homes will be located.

• NYC must do more to transform vacant sites into affordable housing: report [Curbed]