The plan hearkens back to the 'single-room occupancy' model that was once a crucial low-income housing option but faded due to associations with crime and a backlash fueled by racist stereotypes.
“The residents have both the opportunity to have independence and also avail themselves of community spaces and community programs,” said Alex Roque, the Ali Forney Center's executive director. “It will help young people exit homelessness.”
There were once around 200,000 dorm-style apartments across New York City that provided a cheap source of housing for low-income residents and are now credited with preventing mass homelessness during much of the 20th century. But the apartments became associated with crime and concentrated poverty, with backlash fueled by racist stereotypes, leading to a ban on new construction in 1955. Since then,have been demolished or converted to pricier residences, like luxury condos.
The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development is considering ways to revive the shared housing model while complying with existing rules that outlawed new single-room occupancy buildings. The agency selected Ascendant and AFC to develop the East Harlem building through anThe project took the first official steps toward city approval last month and will soon come before Manhattan Community Board 11.
Lyndon Hernandez, a co-coordinator of the New York City Youth Action Board, said living in a shared environment comes with its challenges, like negotiating common spaces.
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