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In exchange for government grants and loans, for
profit and non-profit developers have built many units
of “affordable housing” in NYC. These subsidized
units are rented to tenants through individual management
companies and not through a government agency.
Key Program Points
Eligibility Requirements
Application Process
Supportive Housing
New Destiny's Housing
Key Program Points
- Affordable housing units that rent up for the
first time are usually filled through housing lotteries.
- Affordable units that became vacant when tenants
move out are often filled through waiting lists
and other application procedures at individual
housing developments.
- Units must remain affordable for a certain number
of years and must be accessible to households earning
lower incomes.
- Tenants in affordable housing usually pay approximately
30% of their income towards rent.
- Tenants can stay as long as they want in these
apartments as long as they remain good tenants.
- Some affordable housing developers, like New
Destiny Housing, provide a priority to domestic
violence survivors in the application process.
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Eligibility Requirements
Because affordable housing developments are built
with different funding sources, each has a unique application
process and eligibility requirements. However, most
affordable housing developers will consider similar
characteristics.
Income: Most affordable housing developments
are required to offer units to households within a
certain income range for different unit sizes. These
income requirements usually target households earning
40-120% of area median income.
Credit History: Most management companies
will ask for a fee from applicants to conduct a credit
check and will consider the credit history of prospective
tenants during the application process.
Housing History: As part of the credit check,
most management companies will also obtain a housing
history to see if the prospective tenant has been to
housing court or owes arrears to any other landlord.
This is considered in the application process.
Criminal Background: As part of the credit
check, most management companies will also run a criminal
background check on all household members. This is
considered in the application process.
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Application Process
When affordable housing developments are filled for
the first time, the developer will hold a housing lottery
for their affordable units. The
Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and
the New
York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC)
can provide you with information about which buildings
are accepting lottery applications in New York City.
In addition, there may be opportunities to find affordable
housing when new re-rentals come up in these buildings.
However, because of the different rules each housing
development will have around applications, apartment
seekers should contact individual management companies
and organizations to find out information about housing
availabilities and individual application processes.
Many developments will have waiting lists and applicants
may have to wait a year or more before their name is
selected from a waiting list.
Affordable housing developers and management companies
can be identified on these websites:
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Supportive Housing
Supportive housing is another source of affordable
housing in New York City. SRO’s (Single Residency
Occupant units) are the most common type of Supportive
Housing, designed to meet the special needs of singles.
Special needs populations include, among others,
singles with mental health or substance abuse issues
and individuals with HIV/AIDS. Some Supportive Housing
developments do have units for families with special
needs, but these units are much fewer.
In other developments, there are also units set aside
for the General Community for which no special needs
diagnosis is necessary. However, like other affordable
housing developments, resources are scarce and Supportive
Housing managers should be contacted individually to
find out information about eligibility and availabilities.
You can find a list of Supportive Housing organizations
on the Supportive
Housing Network of New York (SHNNY) website.
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New Destiny's Housing
New Destiny is one of many nonprofit housing developers
in New York City. We currently manage 41 units from
studios to three-bedrooms. We give priority to families
with a history of domestic violence. Although vacancies
are infrequent, we maintain waiting lists and accept applications at any time.
Click
here to download our application or call our
office to request an application by mail at 646-472-0262.
You can also check our Apartment Corner to see what
vacancies we might have now.
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