What you should know
- “Fulton-Howard West” marks first public site engagement launched under the Mamdani administration
- Project will deliver 100% affordable housing alongside new community and social service space
NEW YORK – Today, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Dina Levy and Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner Erin Dalton announced the launch of a public engagement process to transform a City-owned site in Bedford-Stuyvesant into a mixed-use development with 100% affordable housing and expanded social services.
The Fulton-Howard West site includes the Bedford-Stuyvesant Multi-Service Center (MSC) and adjacent vacant City-owned land on Fulton Street in Brooklyn. This spring and summer, HPD and the Human Resources Administration (HRA) will lead a robust community engagement process that will inform a future Request for Proposals to develop the site.
The new project will deliver hundreds of affordable homes, new community amenities and modernized space for the organizations currently operating out of the Multi-Service Center, which is in significant disrepair.
The development advances the goals of the administration’s Land Inventory Fast Track (LIFT) executive order, by using public lands to address both the City’s housing shortage and longstanding community infrastructure needs.
“New York City is facing a dire housing crisis, and we are using every tool available to build the affordable homes New Yorkers need. Fulton-Howard West shows what’s possible when we treat public land as a public good. This project will help longtime Bed-Stuy residents stay in their neighborhood while creating new space for the organizations and services that communities rely on every day. And as this process moves forward, neighbors will help shape what gets built here, from the housing to the public space to the services that will serve this community for decades to come,” said Mayor Mamdani.
“Building affordable housing on public land is a commonsense step to deliver a more affordable city. With the development of Fulton-Howard West, we’ll ensure the project is doing double duty: not just delivering much-needed housing but also providing important services from City agencies and our partners. With the LIFT Task Force and our work on public sites across the city, we’ll continue working to deliver even more vital, community-driven projects like this one,” said Leila Bozorg, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning.
“This building will not only be in Bed-Stuy, it will be for Bed-Stuy,” said Dina Levy, HPD Commissioner. “Starting today, we’ll be in the neighborhood at workshops and on the streets, engaging the community on what they want to see here. 100% percent affordable housing on public land with a dedicated community space designed for the residents that live here—that is the investment Bed-Stuy needs, and we are going to get it right.”
“In order to effectively address New York City’s housing crisis, we must use every resource at our disposal to develop more housing, and that starts with the land the city already controls. We are incredibly excited to be a part of this project which will not only bring much-needed, affordable housing to this city-owned site, but ensure that the wide array of services available at the MSC will continue uninterrupted during the development process,” said DSS First Deputy Commissioner Saratu Ghartey. “We will be working closely with all stakeholders at the MSC on a smooth transition and look forward to facilitating these critical services within this new, high-quality site.”
The future development site includes the Bedford-Stuyvesant MSC at 1958 Fulton Street, including the former P.S. 28 school building and adjacent track and open space, along with neighboring vacant City-owned land. The site was identified in the 2020 Bedford-Stuyvesant Housing Plan as a potential location for future affordable housing development.
Organizations currently operating at the MSC provide homelessness prevention services, education, arts and social justice programming and mentorship programs. Those services will remain in operation until construction begins, and the City has committed to ensuring continuity of services throughout the development process. The organizations will ultimately relocate into newly constructed space within the completed development.
The Fulton-Howard West engagement process is the first public site engagement initiative launched under the Mamdani administration and builds on broader efforts to accelerate affordable housing production on public land. On his first day in office, Mayor Mamdani signed Executive Orders 4 and 5, establishing the LIFT and Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development (SPEED) task forces.
The LIFT Task Force is charged with identifying City-owned sites suitable for housing development, while the SPEED Task Force is focused on reducing delays in housing production by reforming approval, financing and lease-up processes.
The administration has also proposed the City’s first-ever Expedited Land Use Review Procedure (ELURP) to shorten approval timelines for affordable housing developments and launched the Neighborhood Builders Fast Track program to accelerate affordable housing development on City-owned land. Together those initiatives are expected to reduce the predevelopment timeline for affordable housing projects by more than two years.