Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte (Flatbush, Ditmas Park) and City Council Member Jumaane Williams (Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood) on Friday helped break ground on a supportive/affordable 123-unit apartment complex targeting very-low to low-income residents and families that are either homeless or facing homelessness.
Dubbed Cyrstal Towers, the Flatbush neighborhood project at 1345 Rogers Avenue, is being funded and run through a joint City and State effort together with the non-profit Doe Fund. The eight-story development will be a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three bedroom units.
“Crystal Towers will provide critical resources to the Flatbush community, offering affordable housing and support services to a vulnerable population that needs assistance,” said Adams. “With rents that are affordable to low-income households and trained caseworkers available on site, Crystal Towers will become a safe and healthy place for many families that were once homeless. I’m proud to have supported this development that helps advance my administration’s efforts to ensure that every Brooklynite can continue to afford a home in our borough.”
Financing of the Crystal Tower’s development was made possible under New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York: A Five-Borough, 10-Year Housing Plan to create and preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing. The goal of the plan is to help address the City’s affordability crisis by housing more than half a million New Yorkers, ranging from those with very low incomes to the middle class – all of whom face increased pressures due to ever-rising rents.
“The construction of the Crystal Tower Apartments is certainly a cause for celebration,” said Bichotte. “Affordable housing and economic development are two of my top priorities. They are both critical to the overall health and success of neighborhoods like Flatbush, allowing people to live and work in their community. I commend Crystal Ball LLC and The Doe Fund for this venture, and I am pleased that affordable housing of this nature is being developed in my Assembly District. I look forward to standing here two years from now at the ribbon cutting.”
Williams said bringing affordable units to some of the most vulnerable people living in his district is especially needed considering the overall need for affordable housing in the community given the rise of gentrification.
“In my district, we often get inquiries from seniors about housing. Many of them are immigrant seniors, who are living in unsafe illegal basement apartments and rooms of relatives and friends because they are unable to afford anything else. There are two realities in New York City- one is very separate and unequal for many living from check to check and paying the majority of the income towards rent,” he said.
Future residents of Crystal Towers will have access to onsite supportive services and amenities such as an outdoor recreation area, laundry facilities, and a multi-purpose room. The Doe Fund will provide onsite clinical case management services.
The Doe Fund provides life-transforming services; supportive, affordable, and transitional housing; and economic opportunity to low-income individuals, formerly homeless and incarcerated men, disenfranchised youth, and people living with AIDS.
Of the total 123 apartments, 115 will be affordable to households earning an annual income no more than $19,050 for an individual, or $24,500 for a household of three. These apartments include 74 that will specifically serve vulnerable formerly homeless households.
Rents for these apartments will be subsidized by Project-based Section 8 vouchers that will be provided by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). As a result, residents will only pay 30 percent of their monthly income, whatever it may be, towards rent. The remaining seven apartments will be affordable to households earning an annual income no more than $38,100 for an individual, or $43,500 for a household of three.
