Second look: agreement announced last month suggests residents displaced since 2006 can get preference in affordable housing lottery
The press missed it--in part because it wasn't highlighted--but the Atlantic Yards housing agreement announced 6/27/14 includes an important element that could help those already displaced from the neighborhoods around the Atlantic Yards project get a shot at the community preference for subsidized housing. Of the affordable units, 50% will be set aside in the lottery for residents of the four nearby Community Districts, so ties to those districts help enormously, given the likelihood the lottery will be oversubscribed. As stated 7/4/14 on the web site of Brooklyn Speaks, which negotiated the agreement: Affordable housing at Atlantic Yards is expected to be awarded by lottery; residents of Brooklyn community districts 2, 3, 6 and 8 are expected to receive preference for 50% of such housing, consistent with federal fair housing law. The NYC Letter expresses the intention of the City of New York to consider former residents of districts 2, 3, 6 and 8 who have been...