New York State Homes and Community Renewal Announces $2M in Award...

New York State Homes and Community Renewal today announced nearly $2 million has been awarded to non-profits in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island that will help stabilize and protect 500 affordable homes by either placing them on community-controlled land or expanding tenant rights. The funding, administered through HCR, was made available through the Community Land Trust Support Program (CLTSP) and Community Controlled Affordable Housing (CCAH) to fund tenant organizing, building acquisitions, repairs and renovations, and long-term planning for affordable housing communities.

"Community land trusts are a critical tool for preserving housing affordability, combatting displacement, and giving tenants a voice," said HCR Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas. "This nearly $2 million infusion from the Community Land Trust Support Program and Community Controlled Affordable Housing will help protect tenants from predatory landlords, blight and unstable housing."

Community land trusts are non-profit, community-governed organizations that acquire and steward land to create permanently affordable housing and community spaces for long-term public benefit. New York State currently has over 25 community land trusts that are working to stabilize communities, promote wealth-building through homeownership, and preserve and protect affordable housing.

The CCAH program supports organizations with planning, pre-development, and acquisition grants for projects that prioritize resident governance and long-term affordability. Awards in this round will support structural rehabilitations, building conversion from private to cooperative ownership, and acquiring distressed rent-stabilized buildings previously subjected to private-equity speculation, tenant harassment and neglect. CCAH awards have totaled more than $2.5 million and supported a little over 1,000 affordable homes since the program began in 2023.

CCAH awards in this round were provided to the following organizations to support 496 affordable homes:

• Community Assisted Tenant Controlled Housing, Inc. - $25,000 for 76 units
• CLT Interboro CLT Housing Development Fund Corporation - $75,000 for 83 units
• East Harlem El Barrio Community Land Trust (EHEBCLT) - $150,000 for 140 units
• The Bronx Neighborhood Housing Services CDC, Inc. - $25,000 for 36 units
• Chhaya Community Development Corporation - $75,000 for 83 units
• Urban Homesteading Assistance (U-HAB), Inc. (Bronx) - $75,000 for 21 units
• Urban Homesteading Assistance (U-HAB), Inc. (Queens) - $75,000 for 21 units
• Urban Homesteading Assistance (U-HAB), Inc. (Staten Island) - $150,000 for 2 units
• Western Queens Community Land Trust - $75,000 for 34 units

In addition, the CLTSP provided grants to the following community land trusts, as well as two technical assistance providers that assist land trusts, and non-profits that are working to acquire land:

• Brooklyn Level Up, Inc. (FLATS CLT) - $60,000
• CLT Interboro CLT Housing Development Fund Corporation - $100,000
• Community Development Project, Inc. (TakeRoot Justice) - $50,000
• Cooper Square Housing Development Fund Company Community Land Trust, Inc. -$100,000
• East Harlem El Barrio Community Land Trust - $100,000
• East New York Community Land Trust - $100,000
• New Economy Project - $50,000
• Northern Manhattan Community Land Trust, Inc. - $60,000
• Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, Inc. (BRONX CLT) - $60,000
• Residents Acquiring Land Community Land Trust, Inc. - $60,000
• This Land is Ours Community Land Trust - $60,000
• We Stay-Nos Quedamos, Inc. - $100,000
• Western Queens Community Land Trust - $60,000

Governor Hochul's Housing Agenda
Governor Hochul is dedicated to addressing New York's housing crisis and making the State more affordable and more livable for all New Yorkers. Since FY23, the Governor has worked to increase housing supply to make housing more affordable by launching a $25 billion five-year comprehensive Housing Plan, enacted the most significant housing deal in decades and implemented new protections for renters and homeowners. Under Governor Hochul's leadership, HCR has created new programs that jumpstart development of affordable and mixed-income homes - for both renters and homebuyers. These include the Pro-Housing Community Program, which allows certified localities exclusive access to up to $750 million in discretionary State funding. Over 400 communities throughout the state have been Pro-Housing certified.

As part of Governor Hochul's 2026 State of the State, the Governor proposed her "Let Them Build" agenda, a series of landmark reforms to speed up housing and infrastructure development and lower costs. This initiative will spur a series of common-sense reforms to New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and executive actions to expedite critical categories of projects that have been consistently found to not have significant environmental impacts, but for too long have been caught up in red tape and subject to lengthy delays.

The FY27 Executive Budget completes the Governor's current five-year Housing Plan to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes statewide, including 10,000 with support services for vulnerable populations plus the electrification of an additional 50,000 homes. More than 80,000 affordable homes have been created or preserved to date. The Executive Budget also invests $250 million to accelerate affordable housing construction to speed up the building of thousands of more affordable homes.