Affordable housing lottery out of reach for Kingsbridge Heights residents
An affordable housing lottery in Kingsbridge Heights closed on Jan. 3, with its minimum income to qualify set at $81,909 — more than $20,000 higher than the surrounding area’s average income, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The affordable housing lottery is a program run by the city’s housing agencies that lets New Yorkers apply for apartments that rent for below-market rates. Winners are selected at random, but with preference given to those who work in the city, live in the community board district or have a physical impairment.
According to five-year data from the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, out of 58,527 affordable housing lottery units advertised, only 18.4 percent were for very low-income earners. The highest, at 40 percent, went to middle-income earners.
Income is measured by a federal metric called Area Median Income, or AMI, which is a midpoint for earnings based on a region. New York City’s AMI includes not just the five boroughs, but outer, wealthier neighborhoods like Westchester and Putnam County.
Last year, the AMI for a three-person family in the New York City metropolitan area was $145,000. From there, the city sets percentage brackets that households fall into based on income. Percentages are used to determine eligibility for affordable housing programs.
“The whole system was not built for New York,” said Charles Moerdler, Community Board 8 land use committee chair and board member of the city’s Housing Development Corporation. “It’s a national criteria.”
In Kingsbridge Heights, 2854 Webb Ave. had two one-bedroom units available with a monthly rent of $2,902, with an eligibility income capped at $116,640. Immediately surrounding the average annual income is $61,494. U.S. Census Bureau statistics from around the neighborhood show even lower incomes. Slightly northwest, it is $54,094. Towards the south, $44,750.
The affordable housing lottery for two one-bedroom units at 2854 Webb Avenue closed this week. Minimum income levels for applicants were set at $81,909.
The department spokesperson said the city is committed to inclusivity, which includes support for New Yorkers to live in their neighborhood of choice regardless of where they are from, and reiterated some lotteries have preferences for those in the district.
Also, some prices are set by a developer trying to meet the needed affordability requirements to qualify for property tax exemptions, which can push unit prices in the same building higher or lower. The Webb Avenue building is expected to receive an exemption through a city program.
But critics like Moerdler say the definition of affordable is “built on a false premise.”
Some programs, such as Section 8 Housing Choice vouchers, have a standardized cap on who qualifies. A person has to earn 50 percent or less of the AMI — around $56,700 — to qualify for very low income at most. But for the affordable housing lottery, percentages range from 30 percent of the AMI — $34,020, or extremely low income — to 165 percent of the AMI — $187,110, or middle income.
“There’s only one real way you can determine what’s affordable — zip code by zip code,” Moerdler said, adding borough-by-borough would be too wide. In northwestern Bronx neighborhoods, median incomes range from $36,070 to $88,070, according to the New York University Furman Center.
The spokesperson did not directly address the possibility of a more focused measurement, but said its department is “working to move neighborhood and communities forward and plan and build our way out of the affordability crisis.”
