Supportive Housing Mix
East New York, Brooklyn, NY
2017
The Supportive Housing Mix combines permanent affordable rental units and supportive, transitional housing units for formerly homeless families in the same development. The estimated cost of this combination of housing and services would be about a third less than a traditional shelter, and would include supportive services for homeless families that have been proven to work and are tailored to the needs of individuals and families in the community. This model leverages shared financing to provide cost-effective units and subsidize rents for very low-income, formerly homeless individuals and families on the same property. Income generated by supportive shelter services is re-invested into the residential part of the building, covering the operating deficit that traditionally would have been met by Section 8.
Alongside housing is a community facility space that has multiple uses for several audiences depending on the time of day. This space is responsive to the residents living in the Supportive Housing Mix. The site also features the adaptive reuse of an existing vacant residential building and therefore honors and preserves the surrounding architectural vernacular. With childcare programming during the day and adult programming in the evenings, the community facility includes programming such as daycare, jobs training and language classes.
The site is located on Liberty Ave between Wyona Street and Vermont Street in East New York, Brooklyn. So much of the development focus in this area in response to recent upzoning has been around large-scale opportunities along Atlantic Ave and Fulton Street but what this project focuses on is a smaller scale intervention off of the main avenues.