Housing lottery thinks $4,376 for a two-bedroom in Fordham in The Bronx is “affordable”

For over a year, there have been less and less truly affordable housing developments opening up in The Bronx that the majority of local residents can actually afford let alone qualify for due to income requirements that are often beyond the reach of the average household in the borough.

And now, almost every development that has been offered on New York City’s Housing Connect portal where affordable housing lotteries are announced are anything but affordable.

For a time, most of these (un)affordable housing units were located mostly in the South Bronx, with over 95% of them within Mott Haven but now as of late, we’ve seen more and more miles away and further north from the borough’s ground zero of gentrification.

Located at 2077 Ryer Avenue in the Fordham Heights section of The Bronx, the new development is offering “affordable” one and two bedroom units ranging from $3,515 a month for one bedroom units to $4,376 a month for a two-bedroom unit.

For the record, the typical two-bedroom unit in the area list for anywhere from $1,800 to $2,400 a month.

In order to qualify for these units, your household income needs to fall anywhere from $120,515 a year to no more than $218,000 a year depending on your household size.

The brand new development is located in Bronx community board 5 which has a poverty rate of 37% which is almost twice the poverty rate of New York City which sits at 19.7%.

How then, are these units affordable or advertised as such when the majority of residents in the neighborhood and borough cannot afford them?

The median household income in The Bronx is $47,260 as of 2022 according to NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy and for Bronx renters that number is even lower at just $38,680.

For comparison, the two bedroom units at 2077 Ryer Avenue are on average $500 MORE expensive than the luxury, waterfront Bankside development on the Harlem River in the South Bronx where you have a host of amenities like concierge services, outdoor rooftops and swimming pools, fitness centers and the likes.

2077 Ryer has nothing to justify even half the rent they’re asking for.

The affordable housing program and system in New York City is broken and we can’t continue to pretend that they’re offering any rental relief to the average Bronxite and New Yorker.

So remember developments like this when the next time Mayor Eric Adams touts all the supposed affordable housing that has been constructed during his tenure as mayor.

Much like him, it’s all a fraud.