HPD Commissioner Wambua Continues Preference For Displaced Sandy Victims At Bethany Place, A New Affordable Housing Development

New York, N.Y. – June 26, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Mathew M. Wambua today announced the latest housing development to offer preference to income-eligible New Yorkers displaced from their homes by Hurricane Sandy. Bethany Place will add a total of 23 affordable housing rental apartments to the North Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. Ten percent of the 23 affordable units will be subject to the Sandy preference. These units will be filled through a lottery managed by the developer and overseen by HPD and the City’s Housing Development Corporation (HDC).

The new 23-unit Bethany Place is being developed as part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan (NHMP). The NHMP is a multi-billion dollar initiative to finance 165,000 units of affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers by the close of Fiscal Year 2014. For every dollar invested by the City, the Plan has leveraged $3.43 in private funding for a total commitment of more than $21 billion to fund the creation or preservation of over 147,890 units of affordable housing across the five boroughs, with more than 48,848 units financed in Manhattan.

“For those New Yorkers who were displaced by Hurricane Sandy and continue the search for a home, we haven’t forgotten you,” said HPD Commissioner Wambua. “We along with our development partners will continue this preference until it’s no longer needed.”
“These Sandy preference units provide a real path toward sustainable housing recovery for those residents displaced by the storm,” said Brad Gair, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations.

Bethany Place is currently accepting applications. Completed applications must be returned by regular mail only and must be postmarked by August 22, 2013. Qualified applicants will be required to meet income, family size guidelines and additional selection criteria. To request an application, mail a postcard to Bethany Place, c/o LWC Management Corp. 2090 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, Suite 203, New York, NY 10027. Current and eligible residents of Manhattan Community Board 10 will receive preference for 50 percent of the units. In addition, income-eligible applicants who can document displacement by Hurricane Sandy and/or its related storms will receive preference for 10 percent of the units.

Located at 301 West 153rd Street in North Harlem of Manhattan, Bethany Place will have a total of 23 rental units; 5 of the units will be affordable to households earning up to 100% percent of Area Median Income (AMI)—equal to a household income of $85,900/year for a family of four—and the remaining 18 units will be affordable to households earning up to 130% percent of the AMI, which is equal to a household income of $111,670/year for a family of four. Of the 23 apartments, there is a preference for qualified households displaced by Hurricane Sandy for 3 units in the building. There are a total of 10 two-bedroom units, and 13 three-bedroom units. The anticipated completion date for the development is September 2013.

The City of New York requires that subsidized apartments be rented through an Open Lottery System to ensure fair and equitable distribution of housing to eligible applicants. Marketing of the apartments and the application process for the lottery typically begin when construction is approximately 70 percent complete. For more information regarding the lottery process, current housing lotteries, how to apply to an open lottery, and if you would like to receive an e-mail when HPD updates its available apartment and home website listings for City-subsidized housing in the five boroughs, please visit the Apartment Seekers and Homebuyers pages at www.nyc.gov.

The total development cost for Bethany Place is $9.6 million. HPD provided $2.5 million in City funds. HDC subsidized $1.3 million towards the project. The Community Capital Assistance program contributed $1.4 million as a NYS Grant. Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) and New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS) are providing $4.4 million in permanent financing.

The project was developed by Bethany Baptist Church and was designed by Michael Avramides.

About the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)
HPD is the nation’s largest municipal housing preservation and development agency. Its mission is to promote quality housing and viable neighborhoods for New Yorkers through education, outreach, loan and development programs and enforcement of housing quality standards. It is responsible for implementing Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan to finance the construction or preservation of 165,000 units of affordable housing by 2014. Since the plan’s inception, more than 147,893 affordable homes have been created or preserved. For regular updates on news and services, connect with us via www.facebook.com/nychpd and www.twitter.com/nychousing. For more information, visit our website at www.nyc.gov/hpd.

About the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations
The Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations is committed to planning and implementing innovative and effective solutions to the housing needs caused by Hurricane Sandy. Through NYC Rapid Repairs, the City has already completed emergency repairs on more than 19,000 residences. These emergency repairs are free of charge and include the restoration of heat, power and hot water and other limited repairs to protect a home from further significant damage.

About the NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC)
Since 2000, HDC has issued roughly 10% of all the multi-family housing revenue bonds in the U.S. and since 2003, when Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan was launched, HDC has raised more than $6.7 billion in financing for affordable housing developments, including in excess of $1 billion in subsidy from corporate reserves. In Affordable Housing Finance magazine’s annual listing of the nation’s top ten funders of multifamily housing, HDC is the only municipal entity on the list. In 2012, HDC was the fourth largest affordable housing lender in the U.S. after Citi, Wells Fargo and Bank of America, beating out JPMorgan Chase and Capital One. To date, under the Mayor’s plan, HDC has financed the creation or preservation of more than 67,000 affordable units in multi-family buildings that also include 1.7 million square feet of commercial space. For additional information, visit: www.nychdc.com