• Agency: NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (NYC HPD)
• Status: Currently Available

The Mutual Housing Association of New York program (MHANY) began as a response to squatters that occupied vacant, city-owned sites in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) created the program to dispossess in-rem buildings and turn illegal squatters into legal homesteaders. Through negotiations with the squatter population, the city created a separate entity called MHANY and sold the properties to it. MHANY retained land titles to existing sites, and had the legal right to transfer ownership to homesteaders that had worked on the rehabilitation of buildings they occupied. Under HPD rules, homesteaders that chose to sell their property received a limited portion of the resale price. To encourage long-term affordability, MHANY has the first chance to purchase the unit and then resell it to a household on the waiting list at a restricted sale price. In addition to the vacant buildings, HPD provided technical assistance, permanent financing, and a portion of construction financing to MHANY cooperatives. Currently MHANY functions as an affordable housing manager and developer.