HOUSING

LIC IS A LASTING HOME

FOR EVERYONE

Long Island City has a diverse mix of residents including both newcomers and those who have lived in LIC for decades or even generations. LIC is home to two public housing developments: Queensbridge Houses, the largest public housing development in North America, as well as Ravenswood Houses.

LIC is currently experiencing a large amount of high-density, market rate residential development. While the increase in housing in Long Island City is instrumental to its future as a live/work neighborhood, much of the new housing in LIC does not adequately meet the needs of low- and moderate-income households.

GOAL

Preserve and build a diverse range of housing options to ensure a vibrant, mixed-income neighborhood with live/work opportunities and access to jobs
throughout the city and region

MAP

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Current Strategies

Under Housing New York, HPD has financed the preservation of 1,923 affordable homes and the construction of 2,634 affordable homes in Queens Community District 1 and 2.

Affordable Housing Preservation

HPS offers loans and tax incentives to help building owners improve their properties in exchange for maintaining affordable rents and limiting rent increases.
HPD is proactively reaching out to owners to inform them about the financial incentives the City can provide to help them make or keep their apartments affordable.

New Affordable Housing on Public Land

Hunter's Point South will include 5,000 units, 3,000 of which will be permanently affordable, with the remaining phases to be constructed over the next five years.
The Sunnyside Yard master planning process offers the potential for new affordable housing.

Affordable Housing on Private Land

Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) for sites seeking rezoning and the new 421a program now known as Affordable New York are key to achieving increased affordability on private properties in LIC.
The 26-32 and 27-01 Jackson Avenue projects ( “LIC Ramps”) would create approximately 480 units on private land with public air rights, of which 150 would be affordable.
HPD has new tools for financing homes for extremely low- and very low- income families. Since 2017, about one-third of the housing created or preserved at part of Housing New York is dedicated for extremely low- and very low-income New Yorkers.

Tenant Protection

HPD works to protect tenants facing eviction or harassment and to ensure all New Yorkers live in safe and healthy housing through enforcement of the Housing Maintenance Code; door-to-door outreach through the Tenant Support Unit; investigations through the Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force; interventions through the Tenant Anti-Harassment Unit; and combating predatory lending through the Speculation Watch List

Public Housing

The New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) NextGeneration NYCHA plan focuses on preserving and protecting public housing, including capital upgrades
The City has dedicated nearly $85M for critical upgrades at Queensbridge Houses
The City invested $1M on exterior lighting upgrades at Ravenswood Houses

New Actions

Conduct targeted outreach to LIC property owners and residents to improve access to HPD preservation and tenant protection programs.

Encourage developers to incorporate affordable housing including deep affordability levels in private developments.

Include significant affordable housing when advancing projects on public sites, and identify pipeline sites for new affordable housing
in partnership with faith-based and mission-driven organizations.

Support low- and moderate-income homeowners, including through the launch of HomeFix in late 2018. HomeFix is a program to help low- and moderate-income homeowners in small, one- to four-family properties fund home repairs. Leveraging the services of multiple community and nonprofit partners, the new program will pair financial counseling with financial assistance.

Engage with NYCHA residents and the Tenants Associations around capital projects at Queensbridge and Ravenswood houses.