moderate-income people making too much to qualify for apartments built under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. Additionally Donovan needed a way to finance his ambitious scheme to have HPD acquire mortgages on distressed federally subsidized apartment buildings.
Some of the new funds will be tapped to buy sites outright, creating a “land bank” for future construction. HPD has already been working with the Enterprise Foundation and philanthropic partners to pave the way for such acquisitions, under the New Ventures Incentive Program.
Could the city have done even more? Perhaps. The commitment is limited to four years. “I don’t know that we can bind future administrations,” explained the mayor upon announcing the fund. Some Battery Park City revenues remain untapped, including a $45 million “special fund” that is expected to grow in coming years. And as of mid-May, there was still that little matter of securing the governor’s support.
But advocates involved consider it a huge success. Housing Here and Now also prevailed on two other demands that the Bloomberg administration had previously resisted: inclusionary zoning in Greenpoint/Wiliamsburg and the Hudson Yards, and permanent housing for people with AIDS.
Still, getting Battery Park City was especially satisfying. “Battery Park City had been the holy grail of the affordable housing community for quite a long time,” notes David Greenberg, policy director of ANHD. “With it I think there has been a vision, in part realized through this announcement, that economic development as promoted by the city can be done in a way where benefits really come back to low-income communities."
