Do Brooklyn residents know how to apply for affordable housing?
Amidst the borough’s housing crisis, proposed solutions have often left out an important element: Making sure eligible residents know how to apply for newly-constructed affordable units, and that residents are doing so correctly.
Various trivialities have been leading to denied or dismissed applications. Some disqualifying hindrances include a white out on an application; two estranged partners claiming their child as a dependent; and an erroneous poor credit score.
However, one of the most significant missing links is that some residents aren’t aware of how to apply for housing, or what the eligibility requirements are.
On Tuesday at Borough Hall, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP), borough president and a host of elected officials and affordable housing advocates unveiled plans for a series of information and educational workshops for residents to improve access to more than 1,000 affordable housing units that will become available in the borough over the next few years.