Tag: Affordable Housing

Plans Filed for Yet Another Affordable Housing Development in Melrose

Development doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon in Melrose, The Bronx’s unofficial downtown neighborhood.

After a lull in construction for a few years, developments are either in the process of breaking ground, in the middle of construction, almost complete or just filing applications in the neighborhood.

Another Hotel Coming To The South Bronx Along With 2 More “Affordable” Housing Buildings

The development and construction boom continues (frankly it hasn’t stopped since the rise of Melrose Commons which reached a crescendo in 2011 and picked up again last year) in The South Bronx and now yet another hotel is coming to the area along with a 12 story and a 13 story mixed-income “affordable housing” apartments.

A Gould Memorial Library Seeks New Life; de Blasio’s Failing Housing Plan|Bronx PM Links

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing plan to preserve and create 200,000 units of affordable housing is crumbling, Casita Maria searches for a new executive director as Sarah Calderon departs the organization after 7 wonderful years, and the Gould Memorial Library at Bronx Community College may be repurposed are some of the stories you’ll find here at Bronx PM Links.

Overcrowded Apartments in The Bronx on The Rise; Is This What’s Overburdening Our Mass Transit?

Last week The Real Deal talked about how it appeared that certain developments may be responsible for a 9% increase in subway ridership in The Bronx between 2009 and 2014 and while that may be the case for a few of the stations, none of the others are proximate to actual new developments to account for increases as high as 34% at 176th Street on the 4 line.

While looking at the infographic above, there have been no major developments constructed in the East Bronx in Eastchester near the Gun Hill Road Station on the 5 Dyre Avenue line which saw a 28% increase in ridership and the same goes for Parkchester which saw a 19% jump. Kingsbridge and Bedford Park Boulevard along the 4 train, which saw a jump of 11% and 10% respectively also didn’t have any major new construction housing to account for such large increases.

Could lack of housing and truly affordable housing be the reason?

The Rent Really is Too Damn High: Affordable Housing Not So Affordable After All

The Daily News just released an exclusive report on how some affordable tenants are paying high rents—something we’ve been saying all along how “affordable housing” isn’t truly affordable.

Just this year Courtlandt Corners, an “affordable housing” development in Melrose (built by Phipps) began calling one of their buildings The Upton in a media campaign that would pop up in online ads calling it “affordable luxury”.
“Nearly half of the affordable apartment tenants in a new survey say they’re now spending more than 30% of their income on rent — a level considered “rent-burdened.”

A stunning 14% say they’re spending more than 50% of their income on rent, which makes them “severely rent-burdened.”

The findings emerge in a report to be released Wednesday by the housing advocates Real Affordability for All.

Melrose Construction Boom Hits Neighborhood Again; First Market Rate Development Coming to The Neighborhood

In the first wave of construction in Melrose, over 3,000 units of “affordable” housing were constructed bringing thousands of new residents into the area and making the neighborhood the fastest growing neighborhood in The Bronx and 3rd fastest in New York City as per the 2010 census.

Now Melrose is experiencing its second wave of major construction as the last remaining parcels of what was once empty lots filled with the rubble of burnt out and abandoned buildings are being filled in with new affordable developments and even market-rate developments with over 2.1 million square feet of developments are in various phases of construction

Courtlandt Corners Rebranded As ‘The Upton’ & Marketed as ‘Affordable Luxury’—But Not So Affordable

Courtlandt Corners in Melrose, the development which comprises of Courtlandt Corners I & II and Courtlandt Crescent, has rebranded the phase II building on the northern side of 161st Street as ‘The Upton’ offering ‘affordable luxury living’ but at rents that are well above the neighborhood average and clearly are not affordable to the general area population.

Developers and Cities Are Navigating the Affordable Housing Sea in a Leaky Boat – Next City

Here’s an interesting piece on a topic close to home in The Bronx: Affordable Housing.

The article skims the surface of what is a tangled web in which affordable housing developers have to navigate which is so much deeper than Next City can even get into but it does speak briefly about the Jerome Avenue Study area and other parts of New York City.

A Rejected Artist in NYC: Who Really Wins Affordable Housing Lotteries?

In the summer of 2014, 53,000+ people applied to live in 89 affordable apartments at Artspace PS109. This has become an all too common scene in New York City’s housing market. Decades of public subsidies and assistance for luxury development in NYC have increased property values and rents all across the city. This rise has led to the displacement of working- and middle-class families. The main “community benefit” in return for publicly assisted displacement has been the opportunity to enter an affordable housing lottery and hope Yolanda Vega calls your number, allowing you to remain.

Update: Plans For Melrose Development on 161st Street FINALLY Filed After 4 Years Since First Announced

Our friends over at YIMBY have revealed plans filed for one of the last remaining tracts of land in the Melrose Commons redevelopment area to be developed by Briarwood and Phipps Housing in conjunction with The Bridge. The development has changed considerably since it was first announced 4 years ago and probably the most significant change, besides the renderings, is that it will contain 60 units in a separate yet connected building of supportive housing for low-income veterans (Check out the old renderings here).

Bronx Leads The Country In Top LEAST Affordable County To Rent; 4th Least Affordable to Purchase

Money Magazine, publication under Time Magazine just published an article on the top 15 least affordable counties for millennials to rent or purchase and the Bronx tops the list for renters and places purchases at number 4 on the list. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as we just reported days ago that a listing in the South Bronx neighborhood of Port Morris in the Clocktower building is asking $1,775 for a 1 bedroom loft and $2,500 for a 2 bedroom loft.