State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins tour new renovated affordable housing
Yonkers’ oldest and largest affordable housing complex is getting a $50 million makeover. It is all part of the Municipal Housing Authority of the City of Yonkers’ $300 million, three-year plan to renovate more than 1,700 units of affordable housing across Yonkers.
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano and Joseph Shuldiner, executive director of the MHACY, showed off some of the renovations at the William A. Schlobohm Houses on Schroder Street in Yonkers during a recent tour with State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Spano said the city’s Municipal Housing Authority was able to accomplish the renovations through a creative private-public partnership that included funding from New York State.
“New York State is stepping in as the role of the federal government diminishes in providing safe, decent affordable housing,” said Spano. “With nearly $3 billion in private investment pouring into Yonkers, it is important that all boats rise and that everyone share in the prosperity as our city thrives.”
More than $50 million is being spent to renovate the 411-unit housing complex, which is more than 50 years old. The complex’s eight buildings will get new bathrooms, kitchens and windows, as well as brighter hallways, upgraded elevators and security systems.
The renovations are being done at 20 properties across the city and include new bathrooms, kitchens, roofing, flooring, heating and other interior and exterior upgrades that will improve the lives of 10,000 residents, including senior citizens.
A complex financing plan under HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program allowed the city and the authority to leverage its properties and use tax credits to attract private investors. It is the most extensive public housing renovation in the nation using public-private financing.
Shuldiner said that renovations are currently going on in 1,300 units of affordable housing throughout the city that should be completed by the end of 2019. MHACY is working on obtaining additional funding to complete the rest of the units by 2020, he said.
“When it comes to projects like these, we are moving at lighting speed,” he said. “Through RAD, we have been able to leverage private investment through tax credit incentives to improve our housing stock and create hundreds of construction jobs. We would not have been able to do any of this without the help of New York State, and in particular, our local delegation and Gov. (Andrew) Cuomo.”
Tenant Council President Elizabeth Owens, who has lived at Schlobohm since 1974, called the renovation “wonderful,” saying this is the most extensive renovation residents have seen to date.
Some may recall hearing about the Schlobohm Housing Project, which was memorialized in the HBO mini-series “Show Me a Hero.” For more information visit mhacy.org.
