Timbale Terrace “When life hands you empty offices, you convert them to housing. Creating the housing New Yorkers need by converting underused office space is a no brainer.” Similarly, taking unused parking spaces or abandoned community halls and repurposing them for affordable housing is part of directing the city’s effort and money to address its long overdue housing crisis. Part of rehabilitating and housing security is ensuring that there is ample space for community engagement and creative fostering. The East Harlem Neighborhood Plan aims to do both in a very grand manner. Claiming to make 330 housing units out of which 90 will be reserved for formerly homeless households. This reservation is turning heads and has the potential to become a finished project which remains untrue as of December 2023. The space will also include a Afro-Latin Music and Arts center that will be run by the Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance. This might also shed insight into the name of the new establishment, the word “timbale” could be a nod to the late local resident Tito Puente who remains one of the most influential percussion artists of the Harlem Renaissance. “East Harlem is the community that best represents the mission of the Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance, to use music as an entry point for service to the community and to reflect back to that community the beauty and ingenuity of its citizens,” said Arturo O'Farrill, Founder, Artistic Director, Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance. The New York Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is repurposing one of many empty sites that can be converted into affordable housing. They are able to do this by leveraging city subsidies as planned under the East Harlem Rezoning. This step towards building mixed income housing and preserving affordable housing is spearheaded by the New York City HPD, Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance (ALJA) and Lantern Organization which is a reputable nonprofit, affordable housing developer that provides permanent and affordable housing options for special needs and low-income populations. Activity: Go on a walk around your neighbourhood and try to identify at least one site that can be reconstructed into affordable housing. Resource list https://www.citylandnyc.org/city-announces-plan-to-convert-vacant-offices-to-housing/ https://www.nyc.gov/site/hpd/news/039-21/hpd-plans-new-afro-latin-music-arts-center-nearly-600-affordable-homes-in#/0 https://www.6sqft.com/hpd-seeks-proposals-to-develop-two-east-harlem-sites-with-affordable-housing-and-community-space/

Rendering courtesy of NYC HPD

There are certain times that restore your faith in the government but these might be short lived events that do not develop the lives of the maltreated people living in the fringes of society. Such was the case with the homeless that were sheltered during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. There was never a claim made that the temporary hotel rooms provided to the 8000-9500 (estimated between this) people would be permanently housed in the hotels. It did offer a vision of what “could be” –how our society might provide dignified shelter for the unhoused on a permanent basis. The Lucerne offers both the possibility for a dignified future, and, on the flipside, the present day reality of the lack of care and support for unhoused New Yorkers. The Lucerne Hotel became a sort of “battle ground” for homeless community members between West Side neighbors who pushed them out prematurely, and those community members who extended themselves to make homeless people feel welcome. The Covid-19 pandemic was a shock to the world but especially to those who are forced to live in close proximity to strangers that are not in the best health. New York’s homeless shelters had been chock full (some still are) and this resulted in at least 102 deaths while several people had to live in crowded rooms without access to proper treatment. To combat this, New York City placed several homeless people into single hotel rooms (300 men were placed in the Lucerne Hotel) to isolate and protect them from the spread of the virus. This special adjustment was terminated in the Summer 2021, 3 months before the decided moving date. The people that had called the Lucerne their home for over a year were not leaving without a fight. After demonstrations in front of the mayor's house, a court battle and slow eviction, it came down to just 68 men who were then placed in permanent accommodation. “Why the rush to put us back into the shelters now?” said Milton Perez, 45, who has spent five years in the shelter system. “Why the rush to put us in danger?” Unfortunately for the homeless men, the Lucerne became what the NY Times described as "a flash point" in the battle over the neighborhood sparking a court battle and a vicious fight both for and against their presence. The displaced faced a lot of opposition and tension from residents around the hotel which also caused some of them to lose jobs that had been provided by the West Side Greenskeepers, a neighborhood cleanup organization. Activity: Try and fill out this form by Open Hearts Initiative if you are thinking or have thought of helping organizations that are actively doing something to combat homelessness:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdw\_8kgHcU9aE6eVl-qMB1yDW6ZR\_1eBtxjhNMVJ8aflMSGgg/viewform Resource list https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/21/extend-federal-support-to-governors-use-of-national-guard-to-respond-to-covid-19-and-to-increase-reimbursement-and-other-assistance-provided-to-states/ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/16/nyregion/homeless-de-blasio-hotels.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/nyregion/lucerne-hotel-homeless-shelter.html https://openheartsinitiative.org/uws

There are a lot of plans made that do not see the light of day. However, the Greenpoint Hospital being redeveloped into affordable housing and shelter for homeless men secured $66 million in January 2023. This is a huge step forward towards shaping the lives of the 800+ people that can be accommodated in 557 apartments and a 200 bed shelter. In 2014, before the Borough President of Brooklyn, Eric Adams became the Mayor, he identified several sites and parking lots that could be converted into affordable housing. In2023, this is being realized by Hudson Companies, St. Nicks Alliance, and Project Renewal. This is a huge step as another reconstruction plan of this space (that has been vacant since 1984) was stalled because the city got sued in 2010 and the developers pulled out. This time, there will be 2 new buildings in addition to the renovation of the 2 historic nurses quarters. These new buildings will be 12 and 18 stories and house a 1,500-square-foot cafe on the ground floor, a business/workforce development center operated by St. Nicks, a walk-in health clinic and a senior center respectively. Community members were hesitant at accepting the high rise buildings at first but the added benefits mentioned above were warmly welcomed even at the cost of skyscrapers. Activity: List a few community and civic centers around you that are targeted towards senior citizens. Resource list https://www.6sqft.com/hpd-seeks-proposals-to-develop-two-east-harlem-sites-with-affordable-housing-and-community-space/ https://www.brownstoner.com/development/affordable-housing-brooklyn-greenpoint-hospital-288-jackson-street-homeless-shelter-hudson-companies/ https://www.hudsoninc.com/projects/greenpoint-hospital/ https://www.bkreader.com/non-profit-community/housing/new-vision-for-greenpoint-hospital-campus-secures-66m-for-affordable-housing-a-mens-shelter-6550417