By Hayley Camacho

The mood was tense at Community Board 7’s Housing Committee meeting on February 19.  There, board members and residents heard a presentation by Praxis Housing Initiatives for another supportive housing development in the district. Praxis laid out their plans for a supportive/affordable housing  development at 2270 Loring Pl. in University Heights for homeless HIV/AIDS residents with possible chemical dependency.

The proposed development, one block away from Bronx Community College, will be built along three private homes that were illegally occupied by squatters.  Praxis purchased the homes, which will be gutted to make way for the eight-story building.  It will have six floors of living space with a set-back on the sixth floor to function as a terrace for tenants.  Praxis, which already has a soon-to-open supportive housing facility at 4339 White Plains Road in Wakefield, intends to house the HIV/homeless tenants in 70 percent of its units.  The other 30 percent of the units would be set aside for affordable housing.

Plans include a 1400-square-foot space on the first floor for use by the community, a landscaped yard and sixth floor terrace.  The second floor will house the offices of social service providers for residents. The apartments will be comprised of 60 studios measuring 310-square-feet and 10 one and two bedroom apartments measuring 645 square feet and 780 square feet respectively.

In an attempt to allay concerns about the size of the studios, William Stein, Principal of Dattner Architects added that the studios were “well designed with compact kitchens, full bathrooms.” “This is not SRO (single room housing),” he assured.

However community board member Sandra Erickson disagreed.  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said. ”In the market rate world the people in those apartments are working people, a lot of young professionals. Your population is people who are home a lot during the day and it is a little cramped,” she added.

Florencio Cuevas, Director of Operations for Praxis said the building would have 24-hour security and security cameras. He also distributed the criminal background form that would require all supportive housing tenants  to submit.  “If any flags come up, we have to sit down with that individual and let them know they can’t come into that facility,” he said.  All tenants are required to sign a lease agreement.

Skepticism abounded among the board members who are already frustrated about the oversaturation of supportive housing development in the district. “There are a lot of private homeowners in the area of the development who may have some concerns,” said resident Fernando Tirado, former Community Board 7 District Manager. “There should be meetings and open houses, so that they can hear what is going on and what is happening in the area.”

Cuevas countered by discussing the benefits of supportive housing for its residents and the larger community. “People in supportive housing developments get stabilized and learn how to manage their life better,” he said. “They shop in the community and that helps the community at large.”

Housing Committee Chair Jean Hill said the board is concerned that an overabundance of supportive housing will keep retailers out. “The type of businesses we want to attract into the area are not going to come because they’re not going to feel that residents have money to spend in their establishment.  We don’t see a band wagon of people showing up saying, ‘Ok we’re going to build for middle income people,’ which is what we have mostly in this area,” she said.

Erickson reminded Cuevas about the other supportive housing projects. “We have four supportive housing units coming in: Concern for Independent Living, Project Renewal, the Doe Fund and L&M Development Partners.  Even theirs have  better percentages than yours because they are 50/50 supportive, affordable housing and one is 70 percent affordable, 30 percent supportive.  Yours is 70/30, that’s 21 affordable apartments and 59 supportive so that is even less desirable for us,” she said.

Stein noted that the typical model for supportive housing is a ratio of 60 percent of the units earmarked for the supportive population and 40 percent for affordable housing.  Due to the complexity of the services Praxis was offering its supportive housing residents and the economics of providing them, the ratio of supportive housing was higher for the project.  “We can revisit that,” he said.

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.