29-19 Newtown Ave. (Photo: NYC HPD)
Sept. 28, 2020 Staff Report
If $2,241 per month for a studio meets your definition of affordable—then there is a lottery for you.
A new “affordable” housing lottery has opened with 14 units on offer in an Astoria development.
The units, located at 29-19 Newtown Ave., include studios, one bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. Applicants have until Oct. 16 to apply and units will be awarded to qualified tenants via a lottery.
Two studios are on offer that will rent for $2,241 per month; five one bedrooms at $2,362; and seven two bedrooms are going for $2,849.
All units are going to tenants that earn 130 percent of the area median income. Therefore, the minimum income for an individual seeking a one bedroom is $78,858. For a two bedroom, the minimum income for a couple is $91,715.
The building, which is 8 stories and contains 44 apartments (including 30 market rate units), is located two blocks away from the 30th Avenue subway station which serves the N, W trains.
The units come with a patio/balcony, dishwasher, high-end kitchen appliances and countertops. The building includes covered parking, bike storage lockers, outdoor space and a gymnasium. There will also be a community center.
To apply, click here.
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11 Comments
Affordability is not the goal here. This program was created (by Democrats) in order to give the real estate development industry tax breaks. It’s a win-win for the developers because they get the tax breaks and are still able to get at or near market rate with the “affordable” units. Especially now, you can live just about anywhere in Astoria for $2,849- no need for the invasive lottery process and no need to live right next to a rumbling elevated train line. In Manhattan, they’ve taken this sham into a masterpiece complete with separate “poor-door” entrances for the lottery units.
I don’t know where you get your information from but there are not tax breaks being given out.
Adding affordable housing generally just lets the builder construct a few more apartments in a slightly larger building envelope. The whole program is a genuine pain to go through and I’m amazed that so many choose to go this route rather than build as of right.
Once again – NO TAX BREAKS. Please stop spreading misinformation.
So the companies get to build a few more apartments at the expense of public welfare. People want a less crowded neighborhood with less apartments if these apartments are NOT affordable and do not help the poor.
Trump took so many tax breaks he only pays $750 in taxes (he owns 9 golf clubs). You’re saying he’s a democrat? ?
What a joke, why cant the city house homeless working families subsidize a portion of the rent in these building rather than housing them in crappy hotel rooms with no kitchens and paying upwards if $500 per night on our tax payer making the friends of the mayor rich – the syndicate of not for profits bilking the city for close to a billion dollars per yr for services???
Thank you for putting the word affordable in quotes. But you should have been even more truthful by saying LAUGHABLE “affordabe” housing lottery. Apparently no one in city or state government wishes to make this housing lottery truly affordable – with such rents currently set NOT on a citywide basis, rather by already gentrified neighborhood rent standards. Developers don’t want to truly bring diversity into these neighborhoods, and their buildings. But ff they want government tax breaks in exchange, then they must be forced to change the rules to include more affordable apartmments. So who is the culprit here- Cuomo or DeBlasio, State or City ? In addition i’ts a pressing question to ask of all the candidates in the upcoming Mayoral election: will you make the housing lottrtry truly affordable?
These “affordable” housing lotteries are nothing more than a plot to discourage the minority community from having access to good housing. Who is really “winning” these lotteries, because it’s not constituents of the district they are built in. Heck, I’ve applied for over 5 years and haven’t gotten so much as declined letter.
It’s a lottery. The odds are against you that you will get randomly selected and they don’t owe you an apology letter.
$2300 for a one bedroom or $2800 for a two bedroom in a modern building with tenant controlled air conditioning/heating, modern elevators, a gym and on site parking isn’t bad compared to what you have to pay to live in a 4 or 5 story 1920’s walk-up or in a one family house that was converted into multiple apartments.
They should not have tax breaks then
It doesn’t meet my definition of affordable. If you can afford to pay that much for rent, you qualify for a mortgage. Who sets the definition of “affordable” – why isn’t that ever included in these stories? Doesn’t anyone ask?
“Affordable housing” is a lefty scam where lucky/selected rich folks pay a bit cheaper rent at the expense of poor people’s taxes that should be used for better schools, transportation, sanitation, etc.