Habitat for Humanity is building out an ecosystem in the outer boroughs, Commercial Observer has learned.

The not-for-profit homebuilder, known for building houses in disaster- and poverty-stricken communities, has announced it will construct a 108-unit co-operative development spanning eight sites across Brooklyn, as well as an additional building in the Bronx.

The buildings utilize a number of city, state and federal programs to subsidize the projects, such as the Open Door Program and the New Infill Housing Opportunity Program, both provided by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the state’s Homes and Community Renewal program.

The Constellation development in Brooklyn started as a 77-unit development before Habitat for Humanity grew the planned community to 108 units. Meanwhile the Bronx c-op, known as Claremont House, was originally 40 units before its expansion to 71 units.

The two developments represent Habitat for Humanity’s largest construction pipeline in its history, and Claremont House will be the largest development it has ever built, according to Sabrina Lippman, CEO of the organization in New York City and Westchester County.

Both expansion plans were made possible by the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, the pro-development reforms instituted under former Mayor Eric Adams.

“We serve working New Yorkers, so nurses, teachers, civil service workers, all the folks that are the backbone of the city who just do not have access to having a stake in the city they help run,” Lippman told CO. “I wish there were more of us building affordable homeownership buildings, but given how difficult these capital stacks are to put together, it’s hard to keep up with the demand that the city deserves.”

Lippman added that this type of housing targets not the poorest residents, but also not the wealthiest, instead addressing a “missing middle” for whom homeownership would not be possible.

“When people think Habitat, they think of volunteers, hammers-in-hand, putting up four walls on a single-family home in the Midwest or in the South,” Lippman told CO. “Even though that’s the heart of who we are, in New York City for our 40-year history, we have always built multifamily homes.”

There would also be additional tax abatements for the would-be homeowners in these Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) co-ops through the city and the state, specifically designed to keep costs low for affordable homeownership, according to Lippman.

The buildings will sit on a 99-year ground lease from the Community Land Trust.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Block-by-Block program also played a role in finding the programs, such as Open Door, with the administration announcing $22 billion in new investments for affordable housing as part of the fiscal year 2027 budget.

“Every New Yorker deserves the opportunity to build a life in our city,” Mamdani said in a statement. “By supporting affordable homeownership opportunities like Constellation, we are creating pathways to stability, wealth and belonging for working people who have should not be priced out of that dream.”

And while the lottery portal on NYC Housing Connect, run by HPD, has been mainly tasked with finding qualifying tenants for rental properties in the affordable housing program, sales of units in HDFC buildings were also recently made to be processed through the system.

The Mamdani administration has also set out to solve a perennial problem with Housing Connect: wait times. 

In May, HPD announced that it has been increasing its staffing and changed its application processes to filter out less serious applicants from those in need of housing at a more rapid pace.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.