So, how many former footprint renters have been relocated to the project? Unclear, but they had to enter the lottery (!)

The next meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), an advisory body, will be Tuesday, Oct. 17, at 3 pm. Attendees must RSVP by Monday.

In March 2017, I tried to answer this question: How many former residents of the Atlantic Yards footprint, who agreed to leave in response to a pledge by developer Forest City Ratner to be relocated to a comparable apartment in the project--and have their rent in the interim subsidized--will be back?

I couldn't get an answer, though the Daily News in November 2012 reported that 17 former tenants had taken the deal, and were expected to move into the first tower, 461 Dean. That building took a lot longer than promised, too.

The fulfillment of the pledge is the kind of thing that that an Independent Compliance Monitor, required by the project's Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), would report on. But that monitor was never hired.

What the city says

I did get a partial update from officials at the New York City Housing Development Corporation (NYC HDC) in July:

Per agreements negotiated between the developer and the households formerly residing in Atlantic Yards footprint, these households were guaranteed units in future project buildings and have been encouraged to apply through the lottery for affordable housing units, if eligible. If they are not reached in the lottery log or were not eligible for affordable housing units, these households are all guaranteed spots in market rate units per their agreements at pre-negotiated rents.

That's a bit of a curve ball. It turns out they were not guaranteed a place in 461 Dean, because the city wouldn't permit such a carve-out from the lottery for the relocation of tenants. And if they had to enter the lottery, well, how many times? The project will continue for a while.

So I asked again, and got a statement:

Seventeen households underwent negotiations and entered into agreements with the developer regarding relocation. HDC was not party to the agreements made between those affected households and the developer, but we understand that all such households have housing identified at one of the Atlantic Yards / Pacific Park building based on their respective negotiations. The majority of these households should be in the process of moving in to their new homes soon, if not already in place.

(Emphases added)

That sounds like all households have housing identified and most are already moving in. But I'm not so sure, based on what I've been able to learn, secondhand.

Questions pending

So the questions should be asked:

• How many of those 17 households have moved back in? 
• Of the rest, how many have housing identified? 
• If the latter two numbers don't add up to 17, what happened to the others?