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
March 28, 2022
421-a is Not an Affordable Housing Program
The 421-a tax exemption, which has subsidized luxury housing development for decades, is currently set to sunset this year. Governor Hochul’s proposed replacement (485-w) proposal is a sugar-coated version of 421-a that is ultimately still a massive giveaway to luxury developers - not an affordable housing program. As we enter the final week of negotiations around the New York State budget, ANHD explores why we need to reject 485-w, let 421-a expire, and instead focus funding and policy on true affordable housing programs.
Blog
December 13, 2021
See The Moments We Celebrated This Past Year

Related Resources

An analysis of the total number of city-subsidized units developed between 1987 and 2007, tracking the units at-risk of losing their affordability
A report back from a forum of key stakeholders discussing the challenges and opportunities related to ensuring permanent affordability in subsidized housing.
Evaluating the threat of "expiring use" affordable housing, and recommendations for new policies that can create permanently affordable housing.
A recommendation to address the "expiring use" crisis of affordable housing.
An evaluation of Mayor Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace program
From ANHD's 10 year anniversary journal

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