Last minute deal pushes Rockaway housing project through council
/
Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers applauded the approval of a development in Rockaway which went from 106 affordable rentals to 89 homeownership units after a last minute agreement. Photo by Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Unit
By Ryan Schwach
A controversial Queens affordable housing development was approved by the City Council on Thursday after being changed at the last minute from offering 100 percent affordable rental units to 100 percent home ownership units, addressing concerns raised by the local councilmember.
The planned Ocean Crest development at 29-32 Beach Channel Dr. in the Edgemere section of the Rockaways will now include 89 units that will go up for sale at an “affordable” price, instead of 106 units of affordable rental apartments, as originally proposed.
Local City Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, who’s district the development resides in, originally opposed the development, partially because it did not have enough home ownership opportunities and because she felt her district has been bearing the brunt of solving the city’s housing crisis through the building of affordable rental units.
The final proposal was unanimously approved in the council’s Committee for Zoning and Franchises as well as the Committee for Land Use, and passed 44 to one in the full council.
The committees’ votes were originally scheduled for Tuesday, but were moved to Thursday reportedly due to the councilmember’s last minute concerns.
According to Brooks-Powers, who also serves as the body’s majority whip, the building also now will include 35 percent minority and women owned business participation, “with an emphasis on minority,” and will include a 50 percent local hiring commitment, as well as a local monitor to “ensure the commitments that have been shared by the developer are adhered to.”
It will also include target outreach to NYCHA residents inviting them to purchase one of the nearly 90 homes soon to go up for sale.
Details about how much each unit will cost, and what types of units will be offered, were not immediately made clear on Thursday.
“This is a major win for New Yorkers,” Brooks-Powers said from the council chambers floor on Thursday. “This is a major win for low-income and middle-income New Yorkers to have a chance to become homeowners in the Rockaway community.”
“For many New Yorkers, investing in a home and keeping it such that a family can build equity over generations has scarcely been harder than it is today,” she added. “At a time where foreclosures are on the rise, particularly in communities of color, we need to invest in homeownership.”
Homeownership, Brooks-Powers says, severely lacks in her community, and for Black New Yorkers as a whole.
Specifically, she says New York City's homeownership rate is about half the nationwide number, and the homeownership rate among Black New Yorkers is 27 percent, 42 percent less than white New Yorkers.
“Many of these New Yorkers, low-income New Yorkers and New Yorkers of color, are being priced out of the city,” she said during the council’s stated meeting.
Later in the meeting, the council also passed a homeownership-related bill sponsored by Brooks-Powers, as well as other Queens Councilmembers Linda Lee, Nantahsa Williams and Julie Won.
Introduction 384 would create the Office of the Homeowner Advocate within the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which would provide support to homeowners.
“Legislation like this and projects like Ocean Crest will help ensure more of these New Yorkers have the ability to stay,” Brooks-Powers said. “I look forward to working with the administration to expand resources for homeowners and communities like mine, and making the American dream more accessible here in New York City.”
It is unknown exactly how the last minute deal for the Ocean Crest proposal was worked out, but Brooks-Powers thanked Community Developers, the nonprofit developer behind the project, as well as local civic leaders.
Jess Batus, the vice president of Real Estate Development in New York/New Jersey at Community Builders, also expressed his excitement with the project and the agreement that was reached.
“We are excited to expand access to the American Dream of homeownership,” Batus said in a statement. “This project will provide affordable housing and wealth building opportunities for 89 working families in the Rockaways. We are grateful for the visionary leadership of Council Member Brooks-Powers and the continued support of our city and state partners.”
“Together, we are creating a more equitable neighborhood where all people can thrive,” he added.
Mayor Eric Adams directly mentioned the project on Thursday morning while making a housing announcement of his own.
The proposed eight-story affordable housing project in Edgemere is now being proposed as a 100 percent affordable homeownership building after a push from City Councilmember Sevelena Brooks-Powers. Rendering Via Urban Architectural Initiatives
Adams’ comments came before the deal had been reached, and urged the council to “get it done.” When asked about his recent veto of a package of bills that expanded the city’s housing voucher program, otherwise known as CityFHEPS, he downplayed the fight between his administration and the council.
“We disagree on an item – I don't agree with myself all the time, so how am I agreeing with someone else all the time?” said Adams. “We want to highlight the disagreements on the 1 percent, but 99 percent of the times we agree.”
Adams pointed specifically to the Ocean Crest project when discussing his relationship with the council and their negotiations over housing projects, including FHEPS.
“If I go to [Brooks-Powers] and say, ‘Okay, since we disagree on one thing, now I don't want to do the Rockaway project, I'm going stay in my corner and I'm going to pout and I'm going to be be upset,’ I can’t afford to do that,” he said. “Every day is a new day and we're going to do new things and those areas that we disagree on, so what? We disagree on them and we move forward. We're going to work it out, we’re New Yorkers, we work out everything.”
