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“Monitor Point is a win for everyone: the MTA gets a new facility, the community gains open space and housing, and the city moves forward with its promise to build more affordable homes.”
You don’t have to live long in Williamsburg or Greenpoint to know New York is becoming too expensive for working families. Rents are out of control, and far too many of our neighbors are being priced out of the communities they’ve called home for generations.
As president of the Cooper Park Residents Council, I see every day how the housing crisis affects seniors, parents, and young people who are just trying to stay in the city they love. That’s why I’m supporting the Monitor Point project. We need more deeply affordable housing, and we need it now.
My family and I have called Williamsburg home for decades. This is where I was raised, and it’s where I chose to raise my family. I’ve fought for years to make sure public housing residents have heat in the winter, safe homes, and a voice in what happens in our neighborhoods. But as rents rise and affordable homes disappear, too many longtime New Yorkers are being left behind. Monitor Point offers a real opportunity to change that.
The proposal would bring 1,150 new homes to Greenpoint, with 40 percent permanently affordable, including units affordable to families earning 40 to 60 percent of the area median income. Those are the rent levels working people, teachers, home health aides, transit workers, and seniors on fixed incomes can actually afford.
Just as important, Monitor Point would create hundreds of good jobs during construction and afterward. It would restore and connect waterfront park space, opening up new access for local residents. The developer is also covering the cost to relocate and modernize an outdated MTA facility, freeing up public land for public good.
The redevelopment provides affordable housing designed for accessibility, creating an inclusive, accessible environment for residents and visitors of all ages and abilities. This ensures that families like mine, with members who use wheelchairs, can fully enjoy Monitor Point’s new amenities.
This project represents what we’ve been asking for: development that benefits the community, protects our environment, and invests in affordability. It will include $15 million in environmental remediation and shoreline stabilization, making the waterfront safer and more resilient.
Monitor Point is a win for everyone: the MTA gets a new facility, the community gains open space and housing, and the city moves forward with its promise to build more affordable homes.
Public land should serve the public good. If we want a fairer, more livable city, we need to support projects like this one.
Debra Benders is the residents council president at NYCHA’s Cooper Park Houses.