Metro IAF
Michael Powell: The first Nehemiah homes in Brownsville, Brooklyn as an heroic act of rebuilding from the ashes of urban despair.
"Over more than four decades, residents of the various Nehemiah developments have acquired something precious—an estimated $2 billion worth of personal equity that has vaulted them into the middle class. Alberto Hernandez, a postal worker, moved with his wife from the housing projects to a Nehemiah home in Brownsville in 1984 for $41,000. The low cost of their house allowed them to afford college for their son and to take ski vacations and go on cruises. On a recent day in January, Hernandez stood in his living room and swept his hands at the house he owned. 'This has afforded me to have a freaking great life,' he told me."
See Michael Powell's full story for the Atlantic on the IAF, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and the Power of Homeownership in New York.