NEW YORK CITY—The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust has announced a partnership with the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO and a coalition of unions, area churches and developers known as the United Clergy Task Force to invest up to $300 million in affordable housing, community centers and care facilities on sites in the Metro area.
The seven projects slated for development in the first phase of the partnership are located in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Jersey City. The initial local participating religious organizations include St. Paul Community Baptist Church and Bay Ridge Community Church, Brooklyn; Al Iman Plaza Islamic Institution, Thessalonica Christian Church, Bronx, La Hermosa Church and Westchester United Methodist Church, Bronx; and Heavenly Temple Church of God, Jersey City, NJ.
"This partnership with the United Clergy Task Force has the potential to be a model for how affordable housing can be union built across this country," notes Richard Trumka, president, AFL-CIO. The partnership uses union and public pension funds to finance development on the property owned by the religious organizations.
"We welcome the opportunity to provide construction and permanent financing for the housing elements of the plan," says Stephen Coyle, HIT's CEO. "This is an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen the fabric of our communities."
"This $300 million investment demonstrates that affordable housing can be built while also creating good, middle-class construction jobs," adds Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. "We look forward to continue developing ways to address the affordable housing shortage in New York City."
David Aviles, UCTF's executive director, notes, "Most of these institutions have owned their property for more than 30 years. The focus of these projects is to provide each community with quality housing affordable for working families, modern schools, and public recreation facilities and to do so in a way that maximizes the local economic impact."
In October, the HIT announced a new $1 billion strategy to build and sustain affordable housing in the five boroughs using all union labor. The five New York City Retirement Systems also announced their additional investment $150 million in pension capital to HIT, investments that will help capitalize HIT's new strategy to build and sustain affordable housing in the five Boroughs using all union labor, including the new partnership with UCTF.
Specifically, the HIT strategy over the next seven years will preserve the affordability of 12,500 to 15,000 housing units and construct 5,000 to 7,500 new housing units. The HIT will also work with city and state agencies to finance and improve affordable public housing
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
