MARKHAM GARDENS RESIDENTS RETURN —
AND NOW THEY CAN BE OWNERS

Natasha Chapman stands in her new kitchen at Markham Gardens in Staten Island.

By Eric Deutsch

You really can go home again. Natasha Chapman, a 40-year old single mother who used to live in Markham Gardens in Staten Island, has just moved back to Markham Gardens. When Ms. Chapman lived there in the 1990s, she was a tenant in NYCHA public housing, but she returns as a homeowner of a two-family home, now that Markham Gardens is a private development.

"It's overwhelming," said Ms. Chapman. "It's an excitement you can't even imagine. It's success."

Ms. Chapman was the first person to take advantage of a program that gave former Markham Gardens residents first preference to purchase one of the new townhouses. The development’s original buildings, which included 360 apartments, were razed in 2007. The redeveloped property now has 240 affordable rental units and 25 two-family homes for affordable homeownership.

To qualify for owning one of the homes, Ms. Chapman had to take a course on home ownership, achieve an acceptable credit score, earn a minimum income and have enough in savings to cover the down payment. As soon as she heard about the chance, Ms. Chapman knew she wanted to take advantage of it.

However, she knew she was not making enough money at her clerical job at the Richmond University Medical Center to realize her dream, so she took a second job, and worked seven days a week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she would wake up at 5:30 a.m. and get home at 11:00 p.m. and would not even see her two sons. "It was pretty rough, we all worked together and I had help from family and friends," said Ms. Chapman. “Working that hard, there had to be a light at the end of the tunnel."

Participants in the program receive several subsidies that help with the costs of the down payment and closing. NYCHA provided Ms. Chapman with a $50,000 note that will be absolved after 15 years, if she still owns and lives in the building. She also received assistance from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, New York State Affordable Housing Corporation, New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal and HSBC Bank.

Former residents of Markham Gardens have top priority at the new development, and 14 have moved back, with another 24 residents receiving approval to join them. The next priority goes to NYCHA residents living on Staten Island. After them, any remaining homes are offered through a lottery system to any qualified household. So far, one other NYCHA resident has been pre-approved for a mortgage.

Markham Gardens is considered a mixed-income community, and tenant-based Section 8 vouchers were provided to all returning residents. Returning residents must have satisfactory credit, undergo a criminal background check and be a public housing resident in good standing. A final phase of the project will include development of an 80-unit building for seniors, with construction set to begin in 2011.

Ms. Chapman had lived in Markham Gardens since 1992 when she moved to Mariners Harbor Houses in 2004 in advance of the demolition of the development. She lived there until August 2 of this year, when she closed on her new home and slept there that night, even though she had no furniture moved in yet. Already, she has rented out the second unit in her new, two-family home.

"Was I going to continue to pay all of this rent, or did I want to own?" said Ms. Chapman. "Now I can leave my kids something. I had to do this. It's so important to own something.”