{"id":295673,"date":"2026-07-14T17:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/295673\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T17:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:58:08","slug":"brooklyn-church-group-pushes-nyc-for-affordable-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/295673\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Church Group Pushes NYC for Affordable Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"\"\"As a candidate, Zohran Mamdani pledged to work with civic organizations like Metro IAF NY (East Brooklyn Congregations is a member) to build affordable housing in New York. He is pictured at a Metro IAF NY candidates forum in October. (Photo: Paula Katinas)<\/p>\n

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT \u2014\u00a0When he was running for mayor\u00a0last year, Zohran Mamdani pledged at a\u00a0candidates\u2019\u00a0forum\u00a0to\u00a0work with\u00a0a\u00a0coalition\u00a0of interfaith groups\u00a0to build\u00a0500,000 units of\u00a0affordable housing\u00a0in New York City\u00a0over the next decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Six months into\u00a0Mayor\u00a0Mamdani\u2019s\u00a0term, members of one group within the\u00a0coalition\u00a0gave\u00a0him\u00a0high marks\u00a0for turning his attention to housing so early in his mayoralty\u00a0after the release of\u00a0his\u00a0housing plan.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0they expressed concern\u00a0over the type of housing\u00a0and the number of units\u00a0his administration is\u00a0planning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need greater specificity on what he means by affordable housing,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Father Bill Smith, a founding member of East Brooklyn\u00a0Congregations\u00a0(EBC),\u00a0an organization composed of churches\u00a0in neighborhoods like Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Canarsie, Cypress Hills,\u00a0and East New York.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very clear that it should be something that an individual of modest means can afford,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

EBC is a member of Metro IAF NY, an\u00a0interfaith coalition that sponsored a mayoral forum at Queens College on Oct. 19,\u00a0where then-candidate Mamdani pledged to work with Metro IAF NY.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Parishioners\u2019 Growing Lament \u2014 We Can\u2019t Afford \u2018Affordable\u2019 Housing<\/a><\/p>\n

According to a 2024 report by the city comptroller, the average New Yorker spends\u00a0between\u00a033%\u00a0and\u00a054% of their monthly income on rent, depending on whether they\u00a0live\u00a0in a rent-stabilized unit or a market-rate unit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines housing as affordable when it does not exceed 30% of a tenant\u2019s income.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBlock by Block: The Housing Plan for\u00a0a New Era,\u201d\u00a0which the mayor released on May 26,<\/a> lays out a blueprint to build 200,000 units and preserve another 200,000.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis plan meets the housing crisis with the urgency it demands,\u201d the mayor said in a statement upon the release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Father Smith, who is retired and lives at Our Lady of Victory Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant, said he is also concerned about the number of\u00a0affordable housing\u00a0units.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe keeps cutting down the number,\u201d\u00a0he explained.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0down to 200,000 units. We were talking 500,000.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"A plan to rezone the parking lot of the former Girls High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant to build housing is raising concern among East Brooklyn Congregation members who say the Mamdani administration would be better off focusing its efforts on building housing on vacant lots that wouldn\u2019t require rezoning. (Photo: Wikipedia)<\/p>\n

Another issue is where housing would be built. A plan to rezone a 30,000-square-foot parking lot at the former Girls High School site at 475 Nostrand Ave.\u00a0in Bedford-Stuyvesant and sell the property to a private developer has drawn the ire of community residents,\u00a0who do not want the city to sell the property\u00a0and\u00a0instead\u00a0want a green space\u00a0created\u00a0there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For\u00a0EBC members, the controversy points out a flaw in the city\u2019s approach.\u00a0Rather than rezone property, the city should look at vacant lots,\u00a0it\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s\u00a0important to understand is that the city has\u00a0a number of\u00a0vacant lots that are available currently under HPD (Department of Housing Preservation and Development),\u00a0and those lots are all over the city, all over Brooklyn,\u201d said Olivia Elee, a parishioner of St. Martin De Porres Parish in Bedford-Stuyvesant and an EBC member. \u201cThose lots are\u00a0immediately\u00a0available to be developed for affordable housing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Father Smith noted that the\u00a0EBC presented\u00a0a map of the vacant lots to the city \u201cso they know exactly what\u2019s out there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response to a request for comment, Matt Rauschenbach, the city\u2019s deputy press secretary for housing,\u00a0provided\u00a0The\u00a0Tablet\u00a0with\u00a0information about the mayor\u2019s housing plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the question of affordability, the plan includes proposals for housing for \u201cextremely low-income\u201d renters and \u201cvery low-income\u201d renters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For \u201cextremely low-income\u201d renters, HPD housing units would be created that a single adult making up to $34,000 a year would qualify for. A family of four with an income of up to $48,000 would also qualify.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Mamdani, Cuomo Pledge to Work With Interfaith Group to Build NYC Housing<\/a><\/p>\n

Under \u201cvery\u00a0low-income\u00a0renters,\u201d the salary range to qualify would be $35,000 for a single adult and $97,000 for a family of four.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On developing housing on vacant lots, the mayor\u2019s plan points out that Mamdani signed an executive order in January to create the Land Inventory Fast\u00a0Track\u00a0(LIFT)\u00a0Task Force to \u201cidentify public sites that can produce 25,000 units over the next 10 years,\u201d the plan states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite their concerns, EBC members are willing to\u00a0be\u00a0patient\u00a0with Mamdani.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is newly into the position of mayor\u00a0\u2026\u00a0and we are waiting for the next steps,\u201d Elee said. \u201cAnd\u00a0I think time will\u00a0continue to\u00a0show his commitment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a candidate, Zohran Mamdani pledged to work with civic organizations like Metro IAF NY (East Brooklyn Congregations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-295673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}