After several years of contentious community discussion about the Rheingold Brewery development in Bushwick, an affordable housing lottery has finally opened for apartments there.
A section of the building at Noll and Melrose Street, known as Evergreen Gardens, has 183 affordable units currently up for grabs through NYC Housing Connect. The units are available for singles and families earning 60 percent of New York City’s Area Median Income (AMI), or between $34,355 and $57,240 per year. The apartments will cost $947, $1,017, and $1,230 for studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedroom, respectively. If that’s confusing, have a look at this chart:
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which oversees affordable housing, determines eligibility for its program based on the city’s AMI. Housing is considered affordable if it costs about one-third or less of what the people living there make. In 2017, the AMI for the New York City region was $85,900 for a three-person family.
The 10-block Rheingold Brewery site will have between 800 and 900 units within one million square feet. The development has been controversial from the start: In 2013, debate over a change in the zoning law sparked protests, sleep-ins, and general neighborhood outrage. As a result of the changed zoning, Rheingold’s developers, All Year Management and the Rabsky Group, cut the number of affordable housing options down from 30 to 20 percent in 2017.
To apply for the affordable units online, go to NYC Housing Connect.
Cover image courtesy of ODA New York.