Village of Great Neck Plaza Affordable (Workforce) Rental Housing Units Available

The Village of Great Neck Plaza Board of Trustees recently approved modifications to its Affordable (Workforce) Housing Program. Since the fall of 2012, the Village has solicited multiple rounds of applications to fill the 19 affordable rental housing units at the recently completed apartment building at 255 Great Neck Road. This is the first building in the C-2 District to have been built since the Village adopted a local law to encourage the provision of affordable (workforce) housing units within the Village, which was enacted in 2005. There were initially 9 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom affordable (workforce) rental units at 255 Great Neck Road that were available to single persons or families that meet certain categorical and financial eligibility guidelines, as well as standards applicable to other tenants in the building, including credit standards. At present, some of these units have been leased, but some are still available. The Board of Trustees determined to modify some of the categorical eligibility requirements in order to increase the number of applications for these apartment units. Recent trends since the economic downturn in 2007 show that young professionals go on to obtain advanced degrees and pursue educational goals before entering the work force or forming new households. Thus, the Board felt that, while affordable housing is needed, we also wanted to retain young professionals who grew up in the area to stay here. The age limit of 30 was set too low and that by extending the age to 40 years old, we would better achieve this objective. The residency requirements were also relaxed for persons under the age of 40 in that their primary place of residency must be at least 10 years of the 15 years prior to the date of application that they lived in either Great Neck Plaza or on the Great Neck Peninsula. Similarly, on those persons 65 years of age or older, they must have had to reside in Great Neck Plaza or the Great Neck Peninsula for at least 15 out of the last 20 consecutive years. There have also been few firefighters and emergency response personnel that have applied to the program. In order to address this issue, the length of service has been shortened from 5 years down to 2 years. This change would also assist the local fire departments in retaining new recruits as the provision of affordable housing often is cited as a reason that young volunteers find it difficult to serve in these community organizations. The Board is optimistic these modifications will see a rise in the number of applications being submitted by applicants. Stated Mayor Celender, “We’re hopeful that by relaxing the categorical eligibility requirements for these individuals, the Village will have more persons who are now eligible and can apply for an Affordable (Workforce) Housing unit. We’re excited to have these 19 units and want to see them all filled as soon as possible with those who will benefit most.” With the adoption of these changes, the Village will have revised applications available to those individuals who believe they are eligible on the Village website, www.greatneckplaza.net, and at Village Hall, Monday – Friday, between 9 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. New notices in newspapers will be published and additional outreach will also be conducted by the Village to solicit more applications for these remaining affordable (workforce) rental units. Submitted applications will be reviewed and evaluated at the 15th and end of each calendar month and will be randomly ranked for selection purposes. For more information, contact Pat O’Byrne, Village Clerk, or Brian Hetey, Mayor’s Assistant, via telephone (516) 482-4500, or email info@greatneckplaza.net.