Williamsburg Cross Subsidy Fund

Williamsburg Cross Subsidy Fund was initiated as a response to scarce land and a lack of affordable housing in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The program was meant to gut rehabilitate vacant, badly deteriorated existing apartments in a mix of private and city-owned properties. In order to raise capital to fund the program, the city sold vacant land to private developers. Other city money was made available in the form of low-interest loans to low-income homebuyers. Overall, the goal of the Williamsburg Cross Subsidy program was to earn high profits in rental or sales in order to subsidize lower-income buildings in the 40-acre Williamsburg Urban Renewal Area. In 2013, Community Board 1 proposed to use the Williamsburg Cross Subsidy Fund for the Williamsburg II Urban Renewal Area.

Program Information

• Scale: Small Scale (between 1 and 999 units)
• Timeframe: 1991 - 1996
• Occupancy Tenure: Rental, Homeownership
• Construction Type: New Construction, Rehabilitation
• Building Type: Multi-family
• Developer/Owners: For-profit
• Geographic Restrictions: Williamsburg
• Income: Low-income