'Affordable' Bed-Stuy Apartments Ask Up To $3.5K Per Month

BED-STUY, NY — Eight Bed-Stuy "affordable" housing units that recently hit the city's lottery system are anything but, asking up to $3,500 a month in rent and requiring significant annual income.

Four studio apartments open at 11 Lewis Ave. are asking $2,897 a month, a price that was seemingly sweetened with a three month rent concession bringing the monthly total to $2,172, according to NYC Housing Connect.

Applicants are expected to make a whopping 130 percent of the area median income as an individual or duo, raking in a minimum $99,326 and capping out between $121,000-$138,000.

The studios have air conditioning, dishwashers and a shared laundry room, but the tenant will have to pay electricity, heat, gas and hot water.

11 Lewis Ave. has 13 apartments in total, with market rate listings starting at $3,450 for a two-bedroom, according to StreetEasy.

On the other side of Bed-Stuy, 85-87 Herkimer Street listed four one- and two-bedroom units that also require residents to exceed the area median income.

The one-bedroom units cost $2,999 and require a minimum total income of $102,823 for one, two or three residents. That number goes up to $119,966 for the two-bedrooms, listed at $3,499 a month.

Units at 85-87 Herkimer include washers and dryers in-unit in a building powered completely with electric appliances. Units also have air conditioning and heat control and internet already set up. Tenants will pay electricity costs, heat and hot water.

Both buildings participated in the now-defunct 421-a tax exemption program, which offers tax cuts for developments that offer stabilized and affordable units.

The program has faced criticism for being inequitable and failing to actually incentivize affordable building, according to NYC Comptroller Brad Lander.

Between 2017 and 2020, over 60 percent of the income-restricted units under 421-a were build for families earning 130 percent of the area median income — making the units "unaffordable to nearly 75 percent of New Yorkers," according to a 2022 report from Lander.