Beautiful New Homes for 60 Deserving Families

“We wanted to do something more.”

The shortage of affordable housing in New York City has reached a crisis point. According to the U.S. Census, there are 2.3 “extremely low income” families in NYC for every affordable apartment. More than 50,000 New Yorkers sleep in homeless shelters and far too many struggle to pay unaffordable rent.

Thanks to our partnership with Harlem Dowling and a grant of vacant land from New York City, The Children’s Village constructed a beautiful building in Harlem with office space for staff and rents that low-income families can truly afford. The building was officially dedicated on May 15 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The building’s 60 apartments aren’t just affordable – they’re beautiful. They were designed with a modern sensibility that emphasizes clean lines and abundant natural light. Residents rave about the welcoming community spaces and terraces with stunning city views that are perfect for entertaining. “Throughout the development process, our goal was to build apartments that we would be proud to call home,” said CV’s President and CEO, Jeremy Kohomban. “We did not come here just to build affordable housing. We wanted to do something more.”

Another goal for the building was to create home and community for young adults who age out of our public systems, into loneliness and often homelessness. (In 2015, across the United States, 23,000 children aged out of foster care.) The top two floors feature 12 studio apartments for these young people. With rents starting at just $165 per month (including utilities), they’re affordable even for young people trying to avoid dependence on social services.

The new building will not solve the problem of affordable housing in New York City, but it will solve it for 60 deserving families. We are proud to be their neighbors.