The comptroller’s office largely attributed these numbers to the New York City market, which houses 40% of the state’s population and a majority of the state’s Black, Hispanic and Asian residents. Across the city, multi-family housing containing 10 or more units prevails—ranging from 36% of the housing stock in Queens to 90% in Manhattan, according to the report.
NYC’s portion of the WORTH grant will fund the new NYC WORTH Collaborative, led by Local Initiatives Support Corporation NY (LISC NY), in partnership with the Center for NYC Neighborhoods and Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City.
The funds will support the collaborative in their efforts to advocate for the city and state to invest more capital in affordable homeownership projects and community land trusts, as well as for policy changes that create new homeownership options. Some of the funds will go to existing programs like the Affordable Neighborhood Cooperative program, which rehabilitates distressed, city-owned multi-family properties into affordable co-ops. The amount of $1 million will serve as a loan loss reserve to support mortgages for homebuyers who wouldn’t traditionally qualify.
Valerie White, senior executive director of LISC NY, said that bolstering homeownership counseling services will be another key priority for funding allocation. Many BIPOC families without generational access to wealth, opportunity and discussions around homeownership do not realize that there is more than one way to become a homeowner, said White, emphasizing that counseling is critical to helping these families understand what their options are.
“In addition to the capital wealth that comes with building equity as a homeowner, the foundation and stability of owning a home helps generate an aura of spiritual and social wealth,” White told Crain’s Friday. “That’s why homeownership is one of the key ways to close racial wealth gaps.”
Currently, affordable homeownership opportunities in the city are only a small part of the larger conversation around affordable housing, which centers on rentals. The WORTH grant is the latest effort to make homeownership more prominent in policy discussions. In December 2021, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill that nearly doubled the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation’s per-home state subsidy for affordable home ownership from $45,000 to $75,000 in high-cost markets like the city.
Earlier this year, a statewide coalition of organizations dedicated to affordable homeownership successfully pushed for a new pool of $400 million for AHC’s parent, the Department of Housing and Community Renewal, as part of the AHC’s fiscal year 2023 budget.