NEW YORK, NY—The Affordable Housing Finance (AHF) magazine has announced the selection of Stonewall House and MLK Plaza among the finalists for this year’s Readers’ Choice Awards. The annual awards program recognizes newly constructed or preservation developments that have positively impacted their community and residents through the development of sustainable, safe, and affordable housing.
Both Stonewall House and MLK Plaza serve some of New York City’s most vulnerable residents and received financing under the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD)’s Extremely Low and Low-Income Affordability (ELLA) Program.
Stonewall House, a finalist in the Readers’ Choice Senior Housing category, is the first LGBTQA+ friendly senior development in New York and the largest in the nation. Located in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn on NYCHA’s Ingersoll campus, the development features 145 apartments for low-income seniors, with 37 units reserved for formerly homeless seniors and a preference for senior residents on the NYCHA waitlist. The nonprofit Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) operates an onsite senior center providing services to local residents. Stonewall House was financed under HDC and HPD’s ELLA program and HPD’s Senior Affordable Rental Apartment (SARA) and Voluntary Inclusionary Housing (VIH) programs.
“Stonewall House represents this City’s unparalleled investments in affordable housing, and our staunch commitment to ensuring our senior residents are not priced out of their communities.,” said HPD Commissioner Louise Carroll.
MLK Plaza was recognized as a finalist in the Readers’ Choice Urban Housing category and is a 166-unit low- and middle-income development located in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx. There are 33 units reserved for formerly homeless households. MLK Plaza was designed under LEED Platinum standards and it includes a community room and green roof for residents. In addition to financing received under HDC and HPD’s ELLA program, HPD provided additional funding under the City’s OurSpace Initiative to finance the homeless units. The project was also the one of the first to benefit from the City’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) program, which helped to ensure permanent affordability for 68 of the homes at MLK Plaza.
“MLK Plaza serves some of our city’s lowest income New Yorkers, including the formerly homeless. And as one of the very first projects to benefit from permanent affordability under the City’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program, 68 of these 166 homes are guaranteed to be an asset to the Mott Haven community for generations to come,” said HDC President Eric Enderlin.
AHF subscribers can vote for these finalists throughout the month with winners announced in late November or early December. More information on the awards program and the full slate of finalists can be found here.
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