Sarah Plowden Place has opened in East New York with 183 fully affordable homes for seniors, marking another milestone in the development of Nehemiah Spring Creek. Monadnock Development, East Brooklyn Congregations and Nehemiah HDFC celebrated the opening Sept. 16 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 890 Erskine St. The $135.9 million development provides homes for extremely low-income seniors and is intended to expand access to affordable housing in East New York. City Council Deputy Leader Chris Banks, state Sen. Roxanne J. Persaud, Assemblymember Nikki Lucas, representatives from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and Housing Development Corporation, residents and community leaders attended the event. “Sarah Plowden Place represents what it means to honor the people who built this community while making sure they can continue to call it home,” said City Council Deputy Leader Chris Banks, who represents the 42nd Council District. “Our seniors have spent decades raising families, supporting their neighbors, strengthening our churches and helping shape East Brooklyn into the community we know today. They deserve the opportunity to remain here, surrounded by the people and places that mean so much to them.” The building is named for Queen Mother Sarah Plowden, a faith leader at St. Paul Community Baptist Church, community organizer and affordable housing advocate whose work has helped shape East Brooklyn for more than four decades. Designed by Bernheimer Architecture PLLC, Sarah Plowden Place includes an outdoor recreation area, gym, library, community room, elevator and card-operated laundry room. Apartments feature quartz countertops and stainless-steel appliances. The project was financed through HPD’s Senior Affordable Rental Apartment program and Housing Infrastructure Fund, tax-exempt bonds issued by HDC and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits syndicated by National Equity Fund. TD Bank provided construction financing and invested in the tax credit equity, with additional support from Santander and Chase. Sarah Plowden Place is part of the 45-acre Nehemiah Spring Creek transformation, which began with a 2006 groundbreaking. The first phase, completed in 2010, included 368 single-, two- and three-family homes.  Monadnock Development and Nehemiah HDFC plan to continue their partnership on 1,380 additional affordable rental units. When completed, Nehemiah Spring Creek is expected to bring more than 2,000 housing units to East New York, along with retail and townhouse homeownership opportunities.

A NYCHA paperwork backlog wrongly ended Section 8 subsidies, leaving hundreds of PACT residents facing eviction despite complying with program requirements.