NYC is turning a home for garbage trucks into affordable housing on Staten Island
Dec. 31, 2024, 11:12 a.m.
The proposal is the latest effort to turn city-owned properties into needed housing for low-income families.
An old garage for garbage trucks on Staten Island will soon become a new apartment complex for low-income New Yorkers as part of an ongoing effort to turn city-owned properties into needed affordable housing.
New York City’s housing commissioner, Adolfo Carrión Jr., announced the plan to convert a 115,000-square-foot garage on Staten Island’s North Shore into a 232-unit development on Monday, a year after his agency first solicited proposals from developers and nonprofit organizations to transform the property.
The city selected the affordable housing groups Spatial Equity Co., Nehemiah HDFC and Volunteers of America-Greater New York to redevelop the site at 539 Jersey St. and provide services to future residents. Their plan consists of three residential buildings, including 90 apartments for seniors earning no more than $65,000 a year and a 105-unit building priced for families of three earning no more than $112,000 a year.
The site, dubbed Hillside Grove, will also feature a co-op building with 37 units for purchase by moderate-income New Yorkers, according to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. At least 60 units across the complex will be reserved for families and individuals moving out of the city homeless shelters, the department added. The proposal also includes a grocery store and 46,000 square feet of outdoor space.
In a statement, Carrión called the plan “a promise of hope, renewal and community building for Staten Island’s North Shore.”
The city housing agency released a planning blueprint for the site last year after receiving input from residents and community groups.
"Hillside Grove represents the fulfillment of that vision — bringing affordable units that include senior housing, a much-needed grocery store, and community resources to the heart of Jersey Street,” said Councilmember Kamillah Hanks, whose district includes the city-owned property, in a statement.
The project marks the latest effort to convert city-owned properties, like waterfronts, libraries and parking lots, into affordable housing to address a dire shortage of homes in the five boroughs. Less than 1% of apartments priced below $2,400 a month were available to rent last year, according to the city’s latest housing survey.
Staten Island, the least-populated borough, added 800 new homes between 2021 and 2023, the report showed. Brooklyn, in contrast, has roughly five and a half times the population of Staten Island but added 26 times the number of new homes, amounting to a total of 21,000 in that span.
City officials say Department of Sanitation services, including garbage collection and snow removal, will move from the Jersey Street property to a new garage in Fresh Kills that is currently under construction.
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