The current Atlantic Yards proposal is to be commended for including 2,250 units of 'affordable' housing. The creation of a significant number of affordable units is drastically needed and would be a considerable benefit to New York.

However, two thirds of the units in the development will be sold or rented at market rate, and 60% of the affordable units would only be affordable to families making in excess of the Brooklyn median income, which is $35,000 annually. Also, despite the fact that the proposed project will displace families earning less than $21,000 annually, none of the affordable units currently proposed are affordable to those families. Click here to see the income band chart released by Forest City Ratner.

This means that the project would actually accelerate the gentrification and displacement that is already in progress. It is also unclear how much of the affordable housing would be built in the first phase of the project, and it is possible that the majority of the affordable units would only come online after 2010.

The sponsors of BrooklynSpeaks therefore propose that:

• A significantly greater proportion of the affordable units be affordable to those earning $35,000 annually, with particular emphasis on creating units for large families earning less than $21,000
• The proportion of affordable units built in the first phase of the project should be the same as the overall proportion of affordable units in the whole project

In addition, we propose that the following also be explored:

• Raising the proportion of affordable units in the overall development, including both rental and condo
• Creating affordable homeownership opportunites on-site, rather than as part of a separate development as currently proposed