New affordable housing in the Bronx is designed for both seniors and teens

Home Street Residences, a 75,000-sf low-income housing development, was conceived primarily for seniors, but also includes a community space with a teen support and video gaming center.

Designed by Body Lawson Associates and located on Freeman Square in the Foxhurst section of the Bronx, the building comprises 63 affordable apartments averaging 550 sf each. The units feature high-quality finishes and fixtures and extra insulation to lower heating and cooling costs. On the exterior, gray brick cladding echoes the schist from the dilapidated church that once stood on the site, and the recessed window openings produce a sculptural quality in the geometric shadows often gracing the facade.

Home Street Residence Facade

Customized common areas feature site-salvaged wood furnishings while hallways, common areas, and apartments use browns and grays to complement the exterior palette. The ground floor uses a tessellated and color-variegated stone pattern, contrasting the interior courtyard’s gray herringbone tiles.

Formerly homeless seniors are allotted 30% of the building units, with the remaining apartments set aside for diverse low-income senior individuals and families. Residents have access to roof patios and a quiet rear courtyard. A mail room and a small gym room are also included.

Home Street Residences Patio

“The completion of 1017 Home Street provides seniors with affordable, sustainable, healthy housing in a beautiful new building with onsite services,” says Justin Stein, Senior Vice President with Bronx Pro Group, the building manager and operator, in a release. “It also provides the community with a new and vibrant community facility in which nonprofit DreamYard operates BX Start, where the power of video games and digital media are used to catalyze economic opportunity, community building, and pathways to equity for youth.”

Daniel Boone Playground, Crotona Park, Concrete Plant Park, a post office, multiple eateries, groceries, mass transit, and public schools are all within walking distance.

Across the country, multifamily rents have skyrocketed. Year-over-year rents are up by double digits in nine of the top 30 markets, while national YoY rent growth is up 6.3%. Emerging from the pandemic, a perfect storm of migration, enhanced government stimulus and a hot housing market, among other factors, has enabled this extremely strong growth.