As MHANY markets "affordable" middle-income units at Plank Road & Brooklyn Crossing, a disconnect with core constituency of low- and moderate-income people
The mission of MHANY (Mutual Housing Association of New York), the ACORN successor contracted to manage intake for the affordable housing for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, is to:
- Increase affordable housing opportunities by identifying and implementing creative housing development initiatives, with a focus on preservation and deep affordability;
- Improve the way affordable housing for low and moderate income people is developed and operated
(Emphases added)
When ACORN signed the Atlantic Yards Affordable Housing Memorandum of Understanding in 2005, soon incorporated into the much-hyped Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), the developer's non-binding commitment was that 40% of the income-linked housing would go to low-income households, and 20% would go to moderate-income ones.
That's not how it's worked out, thanks to the state's long leash, allowing an expansive definition of affordable housing; changes in subsidy programs; and the developers' commitment to their investors over any previous promise.
The housing has skewed toward middle-income households better off than most Brooklynites--given two "100% affordable" buildings with 65% middle-income apartments , rather than 40%, and that continues, with at least two and likely four buildings with only middle-income units.
Middle-income focus
After all, most applicants likely will have six-figure incomes--though income-targeted studios at Plank Road are priced at a discount ($1,547) accessible to moderate-income residents. Those at Brooklyn Crossing are $1,905.
One-bedrooms are $2,273 and $2,390, respectively, while two-bedrooms are $3,219 and $3,344, respectively--both well below the market-rate rents at each building but--notably--below the city's allowable rents, indicating a recognition of competition.
(The Willoughby, in Fort Greene, is even more out of reach for MHANY's core constituency, with studios for $2,523.)
About Plank Road
Go to MHANY's page for Plank Road--oddly shorthanded to The Plank--and see marketing-speak likely written for those paying full price, suggesting the luxuries, rather than the affordability, will lure applicants:
Make your mark in Prospect Heights for all the self-starters the creators, the makers, and restorers, welcome to your zone, your enclave, your oasis… your home.Of course that "calmness" includes a firehouse across the street, as well as the Barclays Center catercorner. But it does have amenities, for a fee:
Plank Road, your luxury residence in the heart of Prospect Heights. Right at the intersection between tree-lined residential streets and the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn’s center, Prospect Heights is an ever-changing experience, blending the old with the new, convenience with comfort, opportunity with calmness.
Building features include: 24-hour door man, concierge service, workspaces, fully equipped fitness center, children’s play area, pool, upper-level lounge & terrace, laundry, bike storage, rooftop dining & grilling stations.
Their page for Brooklyn Crossing contains similar lingo, surely provided by the developer's team:
Brooklyn Crossing offers 51 stories of custom-appointed residences and amenities to create the next chapter in your life story. Studio, 1-, & 2-bedroom apartments, with resident amenities designed for being still or being in the center of the action, whenever you choose.
Situated in prime prospect heights, you’re minutes from epic culture and culinary fare in every direction...
The brochure
Similarly, there's a brochure about the two lotteries, which includes solid information about the housing lottery process--required documents, calculating income, what's good credit--along with slides crammed with marketing lingo.
The video
A video of a MHANY-hosted online Zoom webinar regarding both buildings, embedded on the Brooklyn Crossing page, shows a MHANY staffer dutifully reading the marketing speak.
At about 51 minutes in, the host reads a question posed by someone in the group's core constituency: "Is there an apartment for a family of 3, which includes one adult and two children, making $39,000 a year?"
The response: "We do have a lottery opening in the future for lower income affordability. Right now these units are for middle-income ranges."
A colleague adds that these two lotteries are for people at 130% of AMI, middle-income, and "that's why the rents are a little higher... We do have lotteries that are lower income."
I kept waiting for one of the presenters to break character and say something like:
We know this is b.s. We have to read this marketing-speak written for people who make more money than most (all?) of our colleagues and clients. They're not our constituency. But we must keep a straight face because we're bound by a marketing contract for the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park affordable housing, and we hope that future housing will be accessible to our core constituency. Plus, actually, some of those studios at Plank Road may be accessible to voucher holders.
About vouchers
At about 1:15 in, a question asks about Section 8 vouchers, the federal program to assist low-income households rent privately-owned units.
The answer was that the operators will accept such vouchers, since "the subsidies do pay the rents" and those with vouchers, as well as the CityFHEPS vouchers, would pay 30% of their income.
I think it's a little bit more complicated. The value of such vouchers was raised last year, but there's a maximum rent allowable per unit.
For CityFHEPS, the maximum, according to this document, is $1,900 for a studio (with utilities, or $1814 without cooking gas or electric, as with Plank Road); $1,945 for a one-bedroom, and $2,217 for a two-bedroom.
That means the only unit that would qualify would be studios at Plank Road.
Both Plank Road and Brooklyn Crossing are in zip code 11217, where the Payment Standard available for Section 8 vouchers lists the same maximum rents ($1901 for a studio).
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