The Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s workshops will help organizations learn more about the city’s planning and building processes—a response to an uptick in faith-based and mission driven groups looking to build housing on their land.
More faith-based organizations are looking to get into the real estate business as they struggle to manage rising costs and dwindling congregation numbers—and the city, facing a historic affordable housing shortage, is ready to help.
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) will offer a series of free classes in the coming weeks specifically geared to religious organizations to educate them about the development process.
The events were spurred after an uptick in interest from faith groups—the city’s churches, temples, synagogues, mosques and more—looking to develop their properties, officials said.
Religious organizations own more than 84 million square feet of land in the city, a report last year from NYU’s Furman Center found. About 5.5 million square feet of that consists of vacant land or parking lots that could yield 2,000 units of housing, the report said.
“As the city faces an ongoing housing crisis, faith-based and other mission-driven organizations have an important role to play in the development of new affordable housing,” said Jenny Weyel, HPD assistant commissioner of neighborhood development & stabilization. “We are excited to offer this new series of classes and provide a space for these organizations to learn more about opportunities to turn their land into housing.”
The classes, which will take place online over Zoom, walk attendees through the development, permitting and construction processes, plus how to finance affordable housing and navigate landmark and preservation rules.
Find the full schedule and register here.
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