Columbia University is proud to provide eight units within its apartment portfolio as affordable housing, taking another action to expand affordable housing and furthering the University’s overall commitment to our local community. These apartments will add more community members to the hundreds of other non-Columbia affiliates currently living in Columbia-owned apartment buildings.
“Columbia University is always looking to find ways to bolster opportunities for local community members, and we are proud to have collaborated with local community stakeholders and elected officials to make these units available,” said David M. Greenberg, executive vice president, Columbia University Facilities and Operations.
Assignment for the eight units — which include five 3-bedroom units, one 2-bedroom unit, and two one-bedroom units — follows a randomized allocation process where all eligible applications received are placed into a random order. Apartments are then offered one by one in that order as they become available. Four of the units are available immediately, and the remaining four will be ready for occupancy in June.
The assignment of these eight units as affordable housing joins previous efforts by Columbia, which include the construction of a new, 42-unit building in Hamilton Heights. This building, at 600 West 148th Street, provided 15 units as affordable housing ownership opportunities while delivering new, affordable replacement cooperative units through the city's Tenant Interim Lease Program (TIL) to tenants who lived in two buildings within the Manhattanville campus expansion area.
“Columbia has long sought to provide housing for students and faculty to reduce the overall demand for housing in the local community. These additional affordable units advance the overall objective to support affordability in the local community within a city facing universal housing cost pressure,” said Greenberg.