More affordable housing becomes available within Bedford Park, Bronx community

A 108-unit apartment building serving low- and middle-income New Yorkers has opened in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx, according to a housing nonprofit.

Housing and Services, Inc., the nonprofit, said its new 13-floor building will provide affordable and senior housing. The building has 68 studios, 21 one-bedroom units and 19 two-bedroom units, the 35-year-old housing provider said.

The building at 211 E. 203rd St., a short walk from Lehman College, opened to a housing lottery for renters with incomes up to $115,000, with preferences for New Yorkers over the age of 62 and those living in the local Bronx community board district, according to city’s Housing Connect portal.

Tenants are moving in now following a June 22 ribbon-cutting, said Sofia Quintanar, a spokeswoman for Housing and Services, Inc.

Jim Dill, the executive director of Housing and Services, Inc., said in a statement: “Through this expertly designed building, we are answering the city’s housing crisis.”

“One, by providing those without a home a fresh start, and two by ensuring low and moderate-income families have access to the very highest quality housing available with support, should they ever need it,” Dill said in the statement.

The city Department of Social Services said the opening of the building marked a step toward making the city more affordable amid New York’s deepening housing crisis.

Gary Jenkins, the commissioner of the Department of Social Services, said in a statement that the building is “exemplary,” according to a Housing and Services, Inc. news release.

“Projects like this are vital to our focused efforts to connect New Yorkers in need to the high-quality housing opportunities they need and deserve,” Jenkins said in the statement. “We are grateful for our partnership with HSI and others involved in this project.”

Rental prices in New York have soared during the pandemic, and the city is facing a shortage of available housing. Homelessness levels appear to have reached historic highs.

The average price of rent in the city has jumped by about 35% year-over-year, according to data from Zillow, a rental marketplace platform.

More than 48,000 homeless people, including some 15,000 children, slept in the city’s primary municipal shelter system each night in March, according to the Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group.

In recent years, homelessness levels in the city have reached their highest levels since the Great Depression, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.

Molly Mattimore, the deputy executive director at Housing and Services, Inc., said in a statement that the Bedford Park building is one of “several projects HSI has developed in an effort to end chronic homelessness and increase NYC’s affordable housing stock.”

She added in the statement that the building, called “The Bedford,” is a marker of “what supportive and affordable housing can and should be — resilient, beautiful, and eco-friendly — a community that supports and inspires its residents, the neighborhood, and our city.”

In a statement, Adolfo Carrión Jr., the commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, said the building will have “supportive housing with wraparound services,” calling them “the most effective tools we have to address homelessness,” according to the news release.

Dill said in his statement that Housing and Services, Inc. is “thrilled to be continuing our fight for housing justice for all New Yorkers.”