Broadening the affordable housing applicant pool: when the housing lease-up extends into a new AMI calculation and new income ceilings

Last year, when the deadline for applications for below-market middle-income "affordable" units at the two-tower 595 Dean St. (B12/B13) was extended, it was clear that the extension also broadened the potential applicant pool.

That's because an increase in the AMI calculation for 2023, as recently announced by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), meant higher income limits for all applicants.

Broadening the pool

A related, if not exactly parallel, broadening of the applicant pool has happened over the years, notably with--but not limited to--the two previous towers, 662 Pacific St. (B15, aka Plank Road) and 18 Sixth Ave. (B4, aka Brooklyn Crossing). 

As with 595 Dean, they're geared to middle-class applicants earning up to 130% of Area Median Income (AMI), usually more than six figures. And an apparent extended deadline for at least some applications meant that some units were open to applicants earning higher incomes.

662 Pacific: 2021

For example, when the 662 Pacific housing lottery opened, in November 2021, the income cap for a single person was $106,680 and for five people $167,570, as shown in the first screenshot below. That persisted through at least October 2022, as shown in this archived page. 

And that comports with 2021 AMI levels, as shown in the second screenshot below.

AMI 2021

662 Pacific: 2023-?

However, the most recent iteration of the Housing Connect page for 662 Pacific shows the income cap for a single person was $128,570 and for five people $198,250, as shown in the first screenshot below. 

And that comports with 2023 AMI levels, as shown in the second screenshot below.

Why the persistence of the lottery listing, with increased income limits? Unclear, but it may have been aimed to ensure that some un-leased larger units--the studios were at a notable discount--found tenants. 

Otherwise, rents for vacated units would/should have seen annual increases, according to rent stabilization, and would not have been listed at the original rent levels.

AMI 2023

18 Sixth: 2022

The same thing happened with 18 Sixth Ave., though with some more logic. Though the lottery launched in January 2022, the income ceilings initially listed were from 2021, since the new AMI figures had not yet been released.

18 Sixth: 2023

The income ceiling might have been raised in 2022 to accommodate the new AMIs, though the new figures may not have been released by the March 14, 2022 application deadline. 

(AMI figures are often not released until April. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development today still lists 2023 AMI, though 2024 figures have been calculated.)

The most recent iteration of the Housing Connect page for 18 Sixth, excerpted below, lists units with the 2023 income ceilings.

Previous examples

A similar pattern occurred with earlier buildings, albeit limited to the most expensive units.

For example, units aimed at households earning up to 165% AMI at the "100% affordable" 38 Sixth Ave. (B3) were still on the market in July 2018, more than a year after the lottery.

Below are the 2016/2018 income limits, by household size, for two-bedroom units, for the 165% AMI units:

• 2 people: $111,909 - $119,625/$137,775
• 3 people: $111,909 - $134,640/$154,935
• 4 people: $111,909 - $149,490/$172,095

Unlike with 662 Pacific and 18 Sixth, however, the updated marketing material only listed a fraction of units, as the other more affordable units were (presumably) already taken.