'Low Income' NYers Can't Apply For These 'Affordable' LIC Units

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Over 280 Long Island City apartments have hit the affordable housing lottery, but none are reserved for low-income New Yorkers.

The 288 "affordable" units at Sven, Queens Plaza Park's residential tower located at 29-37 41st Avenue, are all reserved for households making at least 130 percent of the area's median income; the highest band of earners who qualify for affordable housing, otherwise known as "middle income earners" (as defined annually by the U.S. government).

Without any income-restricted units set aside for low income (or even moderate income) New Yorkers, people who want to apply for any of the building's so-called affordable units have to earn between $68,229 and $192,400, depending on the number of residents and the size of the apartment.

Only one apartment, a studio, is priced under $2,000 per-month (the building's other 49 studios are all priced at $2,189 per-month). Most of the building's income-restricted one-bedroom apartments start at $2,345 per-month, with a majority of the two and three bedrooms priced at $3,328 and $3,843 per-month, respectively.

The so-called affordable apartments at Sven amount to 30 percent of the 958-unit skyscraper's overall living space; the bare minimum that the Durst Organization, the high-rise's real estate developer, agreed to in order to get tax breaks.

These affordable housing inconsistencies at Sven — like the relatively high income required to apply for the units and the relatively limited number of income-restricted units overall — are not unique to this one skyscraper.

Many citywide buildings that are marketed as affordable, especially in Long Island City, mostly include units at above area median income rates: a trend that highlights the citywide affordable housing crisis (especially for the lowest income earners), the issues with a NYC-metro-area-wide area median income, and development tax incentives.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is attempting to address some of these issues by adjusting New York's tax incentive program.

This week she proposed giving fewer tax-break options to developers and limiting those options to 90 percent of area median income instead of 130 percent, rendering a development like Sven impossible.

To learn more about the lottery at Sven, which closes on March 21, check out the listing here.