Habitat For Humanity breaks ground on new affordable housing development in Brooklyn
Habitat for Humanity celebrated the groundbreaking of its newest affordable housing development in Brooklyn on Friday, a $33 million project called Mosaic.
With 42 one, two and three-bedroom units spread across 13 buildings in Bed-Stuy, Weeksville and Brownsville, state Sen. Jabari Brisport says he hopes the housing will help address what he calls "a severe housing crisis that's hitting Black Brooklyn especially hard, with so many community members having to leave because they can't afford to live here."
Technically classified as "low to moderate income housing," Mosaic will be open to families making between 66% and 90% of the area's median income.
"This is the beacon of hope," says Diana Reyna, the board vice chair for Habitat NYC and Westchester. "This is where you start your dreams."
Some residents, like Brena Bracy-Seals, have seen the benefits of owning a Habitat for Humanity home first-hand, and tells News 12 the great thing for the community is that "it's equitable. And you can leave a legacy behind for your family and it continues and reaches out throughout New York."
The development will also be using a decently new model called split ownership. The way that works is the families who are actually in it will be buying into a co-op, which owns the physical building. All the land is owned by a community land trust, called Interboro. The CLT will make sure that the units always stay affordable no matter what - even when they get re-sold.
The way Brisport describes it, "it is a change from what we've seen in the past, which is housing that is built just for profit"
John Edward Dallas, the director of Interboro Community Land Trust says the system "is a bullwork against gentrification, it's also a way to give the original residents who invested their time and their life and their taxes in the community a way to stay here."
Habitat for Humanity says it hopes to have all 13 buildings done by summer 2026, and that it will start taking applications around that time through the city's Housing Connect system.
