Mission-Driven Development

About

Community Development Corporations (CDCs) are not-for-profit organizations based in a specific neighborhood or community — typically, low-income neighborhoods that have suffered from economic disinvestment – whose mission is to build and improve their neighborhoods. Because of this, they have long played a key role in city housing plans. Recently, though, there has been an overreliance on for-profit developers in city housing plans, creating a missed opportunity to reduce inequality and serve the needs of the lowest income New Yorkers.

Why This Matters

Mission-driven, non-profit developers leverage city public financing tools for their housing, industrial, and commercial work, and create the greatest public good for our communities. CDCs have a uniquely strong approach to development, and support local residents with community benefits, including deeper affordability, long-term affordability, support for essential community services, and authentic community control.

What We're Doing

ANHD is providing robust advocacy, technical assistance, hands-on training, and in-depth community based research to support the increased use of non-profit, mission-driven developers, ensuring that affordable development has the greatest impact for the community.

The CDC Advocacy Committee is a cohort of ANHD’s mission-driven non-profit developer members who are fighting to have the greatest impact in their local communities through housing development and job creation and social services. The CDC Advocacy Committee works to support ANHD’s housing developer members with training and capacity building, and to win more policy support from the City for CDCs and the values they bring to affordable housing development.

As New York City public land becomes limited, mission-driven non-profit developers must explore ways to purchase private land and partner with non-CDC groups to develop and maintain permanently affordable housing. To this end, ANHD has also partnered with groups including the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s office, Goldstein Hall, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and Supportive Housing Network of New York (SHNNY) to perform outreach to faith based institutions, and educate them about the development opportunities they can take to create affordable housing and preserve community assets.

Check out the associated projects below for more information on how we are fighting for mission-driven development.

Recent Blogs and Media

Blog
June 15, 2022
Mayor Eric Adams' Housing Our Neighbors
We are thrilled that after years of ANHD-led advocacy, the Adams Administration has finally moved New York City away from the problematic affordable housing unit count goals of past housing plans. That metric led to a focus on so-called affordable housing solutions that simply chased after numbers instead of prioritizing the needs of struggling New Yorkers. Instead, we should be focusing on the outcomes our communities need – outcomes like ending homelessness, preventing displacement, eliminating rent burdens, and ensuring safe, healthy housing for all. In order to accomplish those goals, we need to look holistically at the full housing landscape in NYC, and we applaud the Administration for incorporating the full spectrum of housing, from homelessness to NYCHA to tenant protections to homeownership in the Housing Our Neighbors blueprint.

Related Resources

A proposal laying out key demands and priorities for the City's Housing Plan
There are three primary mechanisms for financing the building affordable housing in New York City. Each of these mechanisms creates either a financial benefit or financial relief in exchange for the...
With the recent 2nd anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, a new ANHD white paper examines how local NYC neighborhood groups responded to the storm, and the lessons that this holds for policy makers and...
A breakdown of the benefits received by the real estate industry and their corresponding affordable units produced in rezoned areas
Demystifying the category of economic development within the Community Reinvestment Act to encourage more strategic, intentional and equitable bank reinvestment in New York City.
An in-depth, city-wide evaluation of the Mayor Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace affordable housing program, evaluating the actual affordability benefit created compared to the local and city-wide need.
Research and recommendations on affordable housing policies for the next mayoral term
Mapping the history, context and contributions of community development corporations (CDCs) through out New York City.
Outlining the potential for NYC to use tax incentives to create permanently affordable housing.

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