'Affordable' LIC Homes Offered To People Making More Than $244K

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Over 250 apartments on the Long Island City waterfront have hit the affordable housing lottery, but a majority of the units are reserved for people making much more than the area's median income.

Households making anywhere from $15,806 to $244,200 — depending on the number of residents and the size of the apartment — can apply for one of the 270 units in the 33-story tower at 5728 2nd Street in the rapidly developing neighborhood of Hunters Point.

The apartments are part of Gotham Point, a two-tower residential complex developed by Gotham Organization and RiseBoro Community Partnership. The sibling luxury buildings are slated to include 1,132 total residences, of which 75 percent of the units — or 847 apartments — will be permanently "affordable," QNS reported.

A majority of the 270 units that are currently available through the city's affordable housing lottery, however, require applicants to make much more than the area's median income that the latest census lists as about $79,000 — a trend that highlights the citywide affordable housing crisis and has been seen before in Hunters Point developments.

New York City's affordable housing lottery, however, determines median income based on data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which tabulates the NYC metro area's median income at $81,700 per-person.

The new units on the market in Long Island City range from five units for applicants who make as little as $15,806 to 88 apartments that are set aside for applicants who make at least $91,372 and as much as $244,200.

Developers, however, envisioned Gotham Point to be a "mixed-income, multigenerational residential community," QNS reported.

To further this effort, some of the affordable units have been designated for specific kinds of applicants, including homes set aside for seniors, local residents of Queens Community District 2, and city workers, according to the Housing Connect listing. The listings also indicate that five percent are for people with mobility disabilities, and two percent are for those with hearing and visual disabilities.

The amenity-packed building includes a fitness club, children's playroom, urban rooftop farm, and community boathouse, too.

This is not the first time that a building marketed as affordable in Hunters Point mostly includes units at above area median income rates: In June, 500 units in a nearby 56-story tower hit the affordable housing market, but a majority of the apartments were reserved for people making more than the area's median income.

To learn more about the lottery at 5728 2nd Street, which closes on Dec. 29th, check out the housing listing here.