The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) will begin accepting proposals to develop new affordable homeownership opportunities across Staten Island, Queens and Brooklyn with the release of the agency’s Resilient Homes Request for Proposals (RFP).
HPD is calling for qualified development teams to submit plans to build resilient one to two-family homes across 30 sites that lay within the FEMA 100 Year Floodplain.
The original homes were damaged by Hurricane Sandy and sold by their owners through the Build it Back program for Sandy recovery.
HPD will create elevated, flood-resistant homes that support neighborhood stabilization and resilience efforts in the affected areas.
“Hurricane Sandy exposed the vulnerability of New York City to coastal storms and sea-level rise, challenging us to take a new approach to planning for a stronger, more resilient future for our many waterfront communities,” said HPD Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer.
“Through the Resilient Homes RFP, we are looking to create affordable homeownership opportunities from Staten Island to Far Rockaway that are designed to weather future storms.”
The RFP invites development teams to submit proposals to transform these sites into new high-quality homes made of flood-resistant materials, energy efficient features, and elevated utilities to meet FEMA standards.
All the sites are in residential areas surrounded by one or two-family homes, split up into four clusters:
Cluster A. Staten Island – South Beach & Midland Beach – includes 11 scattered sites on the east shore. The sites range in size from 2,000-10,836 s/f.
Cluster B. Staten Island is in Oakwood Beach, New Dorp Beach, and Great Kills. The sites range in size from 1,080-7,650 square feet.
Other sites are located in Somerville, Rockaway Beach & Rockaway Park, Gerritsen Beach & Manhattan Beach.
The homes built will be financed through HPD’s Open Door Program, which was first introduced as part of Housing New York 2.0, the Mayor’s accelerated and expanded plan to produce 300,000 affordable homes by 2026. Open Door finances the construction of new affordable homes for first time buyers.
“HPD’s Resilient Infill Program continues the work of making our waterfront communities not only safer, but more equitable too,” said Amy Peterson, director, Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations.
“This important program will expand affordable homeownership opportunities while ensuring new homes adopt resilient design features. This will help keep waterfront communities affordable and able to meet the challenges of the future.”
“Our Sandy related work continues, even today,” said Staten Island Borough President Oddo.
“We met multiple times with HPD representatives to decipher the best path forward with the properties acquired through the City’s Acquisition For Redevelopment Program – a program which we championed predicated on the Louisiana Land Trust concept former Councilman Vinny Ignizio and I learned about during our visit to New Orleans in early 2013.”
Deadline for submission to the RFP is February 1, 2019.
