City Point Tower Affordable Housing Workshops

Workshop leaders Tiffany Gorritz and Kenia Gomez of WinnCompanies at Tuesday’s event

More than 62,000 applications have already been submitted for City Point Tower One’s 200 affordable units. Of this daunting number of applicants, however, many will be disqualified because of snafus in their application, explained Tiffany Gorritz and Kenia Gomez of WinnCompanies at a workshop Tuesday. (The company is running the lottery process for City Point.)

While the process may seem straightforward, even qualified applicants could be removed from the lottery due to small, easily preventable mistakes.

The Tuesday meeting was the first of five affordable housing application workshops Community Board 2 will be holding this month to teach people how to fill out an affordable apartment application — and how to correct mistakes if they’ve already submitted a faulty one.

The workshop information applies not only to those interested in City Point Tower One, but for all affordable housing applications for any current project.

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City Point under construction in June. Photo by Cate Corcoran

There are currently city-related subsidized rental opportunities in 12 affordable buildings across New York — seven of which are in Brooklyn. All available units will determine their winning leaseholder through a lottery system operated by NYC Housing Connect. To begin, all current affordable housing opportunities are listed online at NYC Housing Connect’s website.

Many who apply are disqualified on the grounds of not fitting into the appropriate income/family size bracket. Applicants should double check their applications to be sure they’ve properly calculated rent and family size, said Gorritz and Gomez.

It’s not always as straightforward as it would seem. For example, children who are living elsewhere — say at college upstate — but come home for breaks count as part of the family as long as they do not hold a separate lease. If an applicant is pregnant during the application process, the unborn child counts towards the family size.

And of course, it’s important to submit before the due date for each location. Applications can be submitted electronically or by mail to the specific project listed on Housing Connect.

The application processing time period is lengthy. Applicants can expect to wait two to 10 months while the applications are reviewed.

During this time, many will receive letters that they have been disqualified for a lease, some will be informed they have been selected, and others may not hear back at all.

Those who make it through the screening will be invited to an interview to verify eligibility. Preference is given to certain groups, varying by location, such as those with disabilities, the formerly homeless, area residents, and others.

Of those who are invited to interview and are entered into the lottery, only some, but not all, will be selected to sign a lease.

Current Projects in Brooklyn

The seven current city-related rental projects in Brooklyn include City Point Tower One at 7 Dekalb Avenue, 880 Macon Street in Bed Stuy, 331 Saratoga Avenue in Ocean Hill, and the Park Monroe II Apartments at various locations in Ocean Hill, Bed Stuy, and Clinton Hill. Others are 382 Lefferts Ave in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, a building on Cooper Street in Bushwick, and 223 units at various locations in East New York (491 and 494 Sheffield Avenue, 494 Georgia Avenue, and 481 Williams Avenue).

Together, these projects offer a total of 565 affordable units, both new and renovated. Apartments range from studios to four-bedrooms.

Details on City Point

Applications for City Point Tower One must be postmarked no later than September 24, but applicants will fare far better submitting an accurate, if last-minute, application than one that is incorrectly formatted. The lottery system does not factor in when the application was submitted, so long as it is within the specified application period.

As 50 percent — or 100 units — of the affordable housing units at City Point are reserved for Community Board 2 residents, the workshops will all be held within district boundaries.

Besides the 100 units reserved for Community Board 2 residents, 10 units will also be set aside for the mobility impaired, four units for the visually or hearing impaired, and 10 units for municipal employees.

For those selected from the lottery, City Point Tower One offers a plethora of luxurious amenities. The smoke-free building, still under construction, will have an attended lobby, on-site manager, rooftop terrace, fitness center, playroom, and a movie theater — and pets are allowed. City Point Tower Two will offer only market-rate housing.

City Point Coverage [Brownstoner]
Affordable Housing Coverage [Brownstoner]
Top photo by Hannah Frishberg; bottom image by Community Board 2 via Fort Greene Focus

City Point Tower Affordable Housing Workshops


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