Seven vacant lots scattered across Yonkers neighborhoods are about to become the testing ground for a new push to get working-class families into homeownership rather than just rental apartments. The Yonkers Housing Authority released a Request for Qualifications on Tuesday, formally opening the search for a development team to plan, finance, design, build, and market homes on the sites, which sit on Herriott Street, Ash Street, Ridgeview Avenue, and Byron Avenue.
The timeline is tight but structured: the RFQ became available online Tuesday, a pre-submittal virtual conference is set for September 30, questions are due October 7, and final proposals must land by 3 p.m. on October 30, according to Yonkers Times. As Daily Voice reports, the housing authority purchased the seven parcels from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency, and the selected development team is expected to include not just builders but nonprofit housing organizations, architects, contractors, and financial partners working in tandem.
Seven Small Lots, One Big Ambition
The properties named in the RFQ are 115 and 117 Herriott St., 95 Ash St., 56 Ridgeview Ave., and 79, 81, and 83 Byron Ave., according to Westfair Business Journal. The program is being led by housing authority counsel Lakisha Collins Bellamy, herself a former public housing resident, who has framed the effort as building an equitable foundation for families the city has historically overlooked, the outlet reports. The homes themselves are meant to be high-quality, durable, and energy-efficient, per Daily Voice.
The legal groundwork for the transfer goes back more than a year. A June 10, 2025, Yonkers City Council committee agenda included a draft local law proposing to declare nine properties, including Rockland Avenue and Lawton Lane, surplus municipal property and authorize their transfer to the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency to facilitate development as affordable housing, according to the Yonkers City Council. The draft proposed allowing private quitclaim sales for housing purposes rather than applying standard city real property rules, the agenda shows.
Framing It as a Wealth-Building Opportunity
Wilson Kimball, president of the Yonkers Housing Authority, said the partnership could establish a pathway to prosperity for residents, according to Daily Voice, and urged development teams to think outside the box and pursue creative solutions in their proposals. The Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers is the second-largest public housing authority in New York State, managing more than 2,000 apartments across 18 properties, while more than 2,700 apartments are leased by Section 8 participants, according to the Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers.
Mayor Mike Spano weighed in on the announcement as well, saying that while the city has succeeded at attracting market-rate housing development, it remains equally committed to expanding affordable options for residents with modest incomes, according to Westfair Business Journal. In launching the push, the housing authority also cited Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies data showing that 71.7% of white non-Hispanic households nationally own homes, compared with 47% of ethnic minority households, the same outlet reports.
The Numbers Behind the Push
The gap between renting and owning in Yonkers is stark. U.S. Census Bureau data shows the city's median household income sits at $83,549, about two-thirds of Westchester County's $118,596 median, while the broader affordability challenge also affects local renters, according to Census Reporter. Meanwhile, Yonkers' median home sale price sits around $385,000 across 128 active listings, per ForSaleNewYork — a price point that, combined with elevated mortgage rates, has narrowed entry-level homebuying options across the region.
Regional funding mechanisms could help bridge that gap. Westchester County introduced a $25 million Housing Flex Fund II in June to provide gap financing for shovel-ready affordable homeownership projects serving households up to 80% of Area Median Income, provided affordability is preserved for 50 years, as Hoodline previously reported. The fund was designed to help projects overcome high interest rates and construction costs that have stalled other developments.
Part of a Broader Local Housing Debate
The homeownership push arrives alongside other city efforts to reshape its housing stock. Yonkers enforces a citywide Affordable Housing Ordinance requiring major private residential projects to set aside 10% of units as affordable housing, a threshold Spano has pushed to raise to 12%, a policy detail Hoodline covered in reporting on a long-stalled Yonkers school site that recently received $28 million to build 128 apartments. That inclusionary zoning requirement operates alongside direct housing authority initiatives like the new homeownership program to expand the city's affordable housing stock.
Whether the seven small parcels can realistically accommodate enough units to make a dent in Yonkers' affordability crunch remains an open question, as does what income limits and mortgage subsidies developers will ultimately propose. Those answers won't come until developer responses are due by the October 30 deadline, when the city will learn whether private-sector interest matches the ambition behind the RFQ.
