The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has partnered with local agencies to renovate 18 homes throughout The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, and make them available to public housing residents through the Small Homes Rehab-NYCHA Program. The initiative is the latest effort by the Adams administration to help communities of color throughout New York City build and maintain wealth through homeownership.

 

NYCHA Interim CEO, Lisa Bova-Hiatt, said, “Across the country, the high cost of homeownership is even greater for households of color relative to White households.” She added, “The Authority is committed to being part of the solution around addressing this disparity, by leveraging partnerships with other City agencies and nonprofits to coordinate access to home-buying education and opportunities for public housing and Section 8 residents.”

 

NYCHA partnered with the NYC Department of Housing, Preservation & Development (HPD), the non-profit, Restored Homes HDFC, an affiliate of Neighborhood Restore HDFC, and Neighborhood Housing Services of Queens to renovate the 18 homes.

 

NYCHA officials said five of the 18 properties have been set aside exclusively for NYCHA residents, and NYCHA’s Office of Resident Economic Empowerment & Sustainability (REES) is currently in the midst of a robust marketing campaign to make public housing residents aware of the opportunity in the neighborhoods of Williamsbridge in The Bronx, Cambria Heights, Jamaica, Far Rockaway, Queens Village, Springfield Gardens, and Arverne in Queens and Fort Greene and Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn.

 

NYCHA officials said the agency coordinated with HPD and Restored Homes HDFC to hold information sessions over the past month that have attracted more than 200 attendees. Additional methods of outreach include e-mail blasts, flyers and applications posted at nearby developments, robocalls, rent inserts, and paid advertisements in newspapers throughout the City.

 

The homes, available for first-time homebuyers, were secured through the Small Homes Rehab-NYCHA Program, which rehabilitates properties to provide affordable homeownership to low and moderate-income families. The cluster of homes in the program consists of several formerly NYCHA-owned, one to three-family homes, and homes provided through HPD’s Community Restoration Fund (CRF) Program, a public/nonprofit partnership that focuses on neighborhood stabilization efforts.

 

The City’s chief housing officer, Jessica Katz, said of the program, “Homeownership is one of the strongest pathways to the middle class and generational wealth, which is key to closing the racial wealth gap. Providing New Yorkers with opportunities to own their own homes is an important priority in Housing Our Neighbors, the Adams Administration’s housing and homelessness blueprint.”

 

Katz added, “In partnership with NYCHA, HPD, Restored Homes HDFC, and Neighborhood Housing Services of Queens, we are looking to give more New Yorkers access to homeownership and ensuring that New Yorkers are able to raise their families in New York while building equity.”

 

Meanwhile, HPD commissioner, Adolfo Carrión Jr., said, “As a part of our ongoing partnership with NYCHA, we’re thrilled to create these 18 high-quality affordable homeownership opportunities for New Yorkers, including NYCHA residents.” He added, “From expanding our first-time homebuyer program to creating more affordable homes, putting the dream of homeownership back into reach for working New Yorkers is a priority under this Administration’s Housing Our Neighbors Blueprint.”

 

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to NYCHA officials, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) transferred more than 700 Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-repossessed homes and buildings to NYCHA. NYCHA utilized these properties as additional public housing, while working with tenants so they could become eventual homeowners of the properties. In the past 35 years, NYCHA officials said the agency has helped more than 300 NYCHA residents become homeowners of FHA Homes.

 

“This current tranche of homes was transferred to Restored Homes in June of 2021,” they said. “Work to the first set of one, two, and three-family homes is expected to be complete by the end of the year, with the others being completed throughout 2023. The Authority has also partnered with HPD’s Housing Ambassador Program to help NYCHA residents successfully complete the application process.”

 

Officials said in order to qualify, residents must make between 80-120 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) and have five percent of the purchase price available for a down payment. NYCHA has partnered with Citibank, HSBC, and M&T Bank to make financing assistance available. The annual Household Income Ranges for applicants vary by property type, location, and number of bedrooms, with an income band range of between $92,239 and $198,600.

 

Officials said the investments in expanding homeownership opportunities to New Yorkers through the combined effort of NYCHA, HPD, Housing Development Corporation (HDC), and various nonprofits is a signature focus of the Adams Administration and follows an announcement in March to begin construction of “Habitat Net Zero,” a project currently underway to turn 13 homes previously owned by NYCHA into 16 green homes for affordable homeownership.

 

Officials said the virtual information sessions, coordinated with the Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of Queens and Neighborhood Restore HDFC, were designed to assist first-time homebuyers on the process involved with securing homeownership. The topics covered included the lottery application process on HPD’s Housing Connect, knowing what lenders are looking for from borrowers, securing affordable mortgage rates, HPD’s Home First down-payment grant, and building a homebuying team. Spanish interpretation was available at the info sessions.

 

 

For more information on ongoing affordable housing lotteries, click here, here, here, here and here.

 

NYCHA officials say the agency also remains committed to providing residents with the critical services of heat and hot water. As part of its efforts to improve heating services, NYCHA officials say the agency is modernizing heating controls to prevent overheating, under-heating, and to save energy. They ask NYCHA residents to call the “CCC” at (718) 707-7771 or to use MyNYCHA to report any issues with heat or hot water.

 

Additionally, residents who are not satisfied with NYCHA’s response to mold or leak complaints, can call the court-appointed, independent Ombudsperson Call Center (“OCC”). To learn more about the OCC visit ombnyc.com or Call 1-888-341-7152.