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East Harlem could get 32-unit, dorm-style building for homeless youth
By
David Brand
Published Apr 18, 2023
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Renderings courtesy of Think! Architecture and Design.
By
David Brand
Published Apr 18, 2023
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A plan to build a dormitory-style apartment complex in East Harlem hearkens back to the “single-room occupancy” model — a once a crucial low-income housing option that has largely been eliminated.
The Ali Forney Center, which runs programs and housing for homeless LGBTQ+ young people, is partnering with nonprofit developer Ascendant to create a 32-unit apartment building on East 106th Street. The 10-story residence would feature separate sections, where tenants have their own bedrooms but share bathrooms, kitchens and living rooms. They would pay a portion of their income for rent while city and state supportive housing grants would cover the rest.
The plan would mark a modest return to a kind of housing that advocates, experts and even Mayor Eric Adams are pitching as a solution to the city’s deepening homelessness crisis.
“The residents have both the opportunity to have independence and also avail themselves of community spaces and community programs,” said Alex Roque, the Ali Forney Center's executive director. “It will help young people exit homelessness.”
Roque likened the sections inside the building to shared “townhomes” and said residents will have support services, like case management and mental health counseling, an on-site gym and courtyard. Most residents will likely be Ali Forney Center clients who have cycled through homeless shelters and have experienced trauma and often mental illness, he added.
There were once around 200,000 dorm-style apartments across New York City that provided a cheap source of housing for low-income residents and are now credited with preventing mass homelessness during much of the 20th century. But the apartments became associated with crime and concentrated poverty, with backlash fueled by racist stereotypes, leading to a ban on new construction in 1955. Since then, tens of thousands of the apartments have been demolished or converted to pricier residences, like luxury condos.
Around 20,000 still remain, including many converted to permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless New Yorkers with special needs, like mental or physical illnesses.
The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development is considering ways to revive the shared housing model while complying with existing rules that outlawed new single-room occupancy buildings. The agency selected Ascendant and AFC to develop the East Harlem building through an initiative to create 310 units of modern-day dormitory housing.
The project took the first official steps toward city approval last month and will soon come before Manhattan Community Board 11. Chair Xavier Santiago said the full board will vote on the plan next month but the land use committee “was fairly taken with the project.”
Construction could begin next year if the plan receives land use approval, and the building would probably open to tenants in 2026, said Christopher Cirillo, Ascendant's executive director.
Dormitory-style housing is not for everyone.
It takes away some privacy while forcing compromises with neighbors over kitchen and bathroom time. A state law meant to ease conversions of unused hotels into apartments specifically barred the creation of single-room occupancy units by mandating that every room include a separate bathroom and kitchen. So far, that law has not led to any hotel conversions.
Lyndon Hernandez, a co-coordinator of the New York City Youth Action Board, said living in a shared environment comes with its challenges, like negotiating common spaces.
But Hernandez, who experienced homelessness as a young adult and spent time in supportive housing, said the East Harlem complex will offer another source of housing for people who need it.
“I think it’s a good resource for the community as a whole to help diminish the housing crisis we currently have,” Hernandez said. “It’s one more option.”
Tagged
new york city
public safety
housing
manhattan
homelessness
Politics
David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
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