Lindenhurst, Amityville homebuyers can get $72G in down payment help

This lot in Lindenhurst is part of a joint effort between the Long Island Housing Partnership and Babylon Town to demolish Sandy-damaged houses in the village and Amityville and build affordable homes in their place, and provide down payment assistance to the buyers. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
The Town of Babylon has entered into an agreement with the Long Island Housing Partnership to provide down payment assistance for homes being built on properties damaged by superstorm Sandy.
The partnership has been demolishing damaged houses and building affordable homes on five properties in the town that are part of 23 on Long Island that the partnership obtained from NY Rising. The state bought the properties for $8.6 million through its acquisitions program. The homes are in Lindenhurst and Amityville.
The partnership will administer the down payment program using $360,000 in federal affordable housing funding the town received. Each homebuyer will get $72,000, and the funds will be allocated in the form of a non-interest-bearing deferred payment loan, said town spokesman Dan Schaefer. The homes will be deeded to homebuyers, but the partnership will retain ownership of the land so that they are designated as affordable housing in perpetuity.
The assistance is available to first-time homebuyers with annual salaries at or below 80% of the area median income. The cap for a family of four is $99,200 and $69,450 for an individual, said James Britz, executive vice president of the partnership. He said that about one-third of the homes are in contract and that applications are still being accepted. Since affordable housing construction was deemed essential by the state, work on the homes is continuing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Britz said.
Several of the homes required variances, and at zoning board hearings last year, neighbors lashed out at officials, saying new homes shouldn’t be built in flood-prone areas. Some bristled at the size of the three-bedroom properties, saying the partnership should have stuck to the footprint of the previous homes.
Britz said the homes will be elevated and homeowners educated about living in a flood zone. He said the partnership tried to stick to existing footprints, but that some previous homes did not meet modern building codes.
“We try to meet the same parameters that were there,” he said. “We’re not trying to build a five-bedroom house where there was a tiny little shack.”
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