Nonprofit housing leader Grier, of IMPACCT Brooklyn, says middle-income "affordable" units at 130% of AMI "languish." She prefers term "income-targeted."

At a Furman Center policy breakfast Oct. 3, Bernell Grier, executive director of the nonprofit housing group IMPACCT Brooklyn, made a few observations about "affordable housing" that, if hardly new, deserve recognition, since they reflect on an eternally controversial issue, including the housing planned for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park.

When she speaks to community members, Grier said, the first question is "affordable for who." She recalled a conversation with lobbyist Jacqui Williams who said she called it not "affordable housing" but "income-targeted housing."

Indeed, I and others have tried to use that term, as well as "income-linked housing" as synonyms for "affordable housing," especially when it's aimed at middle-income households who are financially better-off than most Brooklynites.

So the issue, Grier said, is "the right housing being developed for the households that need it."

Leasing at 60% of AMI

And those who need it, of course, compete for a limited number of units. When IMPACCT runs housing lotteries, Grier said, "we've been able to lease up when it's 60% of AMI," or Area Median Income. 

That counts as low-income, but under the 2022 update to guidelines from the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, could mean studios renting for as much as $1,401, which is no great bargain. See chart below.

That said, developers have the leeway to lower rents in recognition of the "market" and, for example, the Hallets Point development in Queens is currently leasing studios at 60% of AMI for $1,066, well below the maximum.

Not leasing at 130% of AMI

Grier added that, "when we get to" middle-income apartments for households at 130% of AMI, "the apartments languish." 

I'm not sure if she was reflecting on experience at housing lotteries managed by IMPACCT--there's nothing currently listed on the organization's web site--or just the general universe of nonprofits marketing such units as partners with developers.

At Atlantic Yards

That said, as I've reported, the two most recent Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park towers to open, 662 Pacific St. (B15, aka Plank Road) and 18 Sixth Ave. (B4, aka Brooklyn Crossing), both priced their "affordable" units, all aimed at households earning 130% of AMI, well below the 2021 maximums. And those maximums were well below the current ones.

That leaves leeway to experiment. As I wrote in January, Brooklyn Crossing was seeking higher rents than Plank Road, though both were well below the guidelines, at least for smaller units:

• studio: $1,905 (Plank Road: $1,547; allowable: $2,263)
• 1-BR: $2,390 (Plank Road: $2,273; allowable: $2,838)
• 2-BR: $3,344 (Plank Road: $3,219; allowable: $3,397)

Note that we don't yet know whether the income-targeted units--94 at Plank Road, 258 at Brooklyn Crossing--are fully leased up, though they've surely had time to find tenants. The Plank Road lottery ended 1/18/22. The Brooklyn Crossing lottery ended 3/14/22.

The housing partner on both developments is MHANY (Mutual Housing Association of New York), the successor to ACORN Housing.