Thank you Chairman Santiago and all board members of Community Board 11 for hosting a discussion about the Timbale Terrace project and its impact on your community.
My name is Maulin Mehta, and I am New York Director of Regional Plan Association (RPA). RPA is a non-profit research, planning and advocacy organization that has been serving the NYC metropolitan region for over a century. We are driven by our values of health, equity, sustainability and prosperity to ensure the region works for everyone that calls it home. While we are known for our generational long-term plans, we work everyday to deliver insights and promote new projects and policies that will improve quality of life. We are also grateful for a longstanding relationship with CB11, having partnered on the East Harlem Neighborhood Plan and other efforts to preserve and create affordable housing in the neighborhood.
We believe it is critical that the Timbale Terrace project be approved. Our City and State will require over 800,000 new units of housing in the next decade. While this project is a fraction of that need, it provides an incredible model of creating a sustainable mixed-use and mixed-income development that delivers on housing and community needs.
East Harlem is in tremendous need of new affordable housing. The Furman Center has reported that, as of 2021, nearly a third of households in East Harlem earn less than $20,000 and that median household income ($43,860) is nearly 40% less than the citywide median. East Harlem’s poverty rate is 30% compared to 18% citywide and nearly 30% of renter households were severely cost burdened - meaning they spent over 50% of their income on rent.
While East Harlem does have a good supply of affordable housing, real median gross rent has increased over 50% since 2006 and nearly half of all new development over the last decade was market rate. The Timbale Terrace project creates tremendous opportunities for low-income residents of East Harlem by providing a 100% affordable housing development that will be accessible for households and families earning 30-80% AMI. Affordability and a community preference means more East Harlem residents will be able to find secure housing in a community that is seeing tremendous investments.
The $10 million Downtown Revitalization Grant from the state, along with the continued investment in the Second Avenue Subway expansion will help create new growth and opportunities for East Harlem. The project would also create the Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance Music and Arts Center creating a permanent home to celebrate the neighborhood’s rich musical history. Timbale Terrace will help ensure that some of the most vulnerable residents are able to securely take advantage of these new opportunities - and that the most vulnerable are given the case management and resources they need to thrive.
More importantly, this project realizes priorities from the East Harlem Neighborhood Plan, which RPA provided technical support to in collaboration with CB11. By building this project on an NYPD parking lot, we can provide sustainable infill development, give housing and resources to vulnerable New Yorkers, and ensure low-income East Harlem residents are able to stay and take advantage of the investment and opportunities that will be created in the years to come.
We understand that there are concerns regarding the concentration of substance abuse treatment centers in East Harlem and resulting impacts on neighborhood quality of life. Supportive housing plays a critical role in helping to alleviate such quality of life issues. We believe the efforts by Governor Hochul and Representative Espaillat to expand the Mobile Medication Unit program and reduce the amount of in-person visits necessary will begin to ease the burden seen in the neighborhood. Moreover, this project will provide full wrap around services and security, helping to ensure that individuals in supportive housing are cared for and integrated into the community.
Model projects that serve vulnerable populations are so vital to moving our region forward. Too many communities have enacted exclusionary policies, which has led to our current housing deficit. We hope you will approve this project and encourage more community districts to do their part in supporting New Yorkers in need of affordable housing. As always, RPA stands ready to serve as a resource.
Thank you for your time and consideration of our testimony.
