Upper West Side Building to Be Converted Into Homeless and Low-Income Housing

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At its Feb. 18 meeting, Manhattan Community Board 7’s Housing and Land Use Committee voted to support a proposal by the Sisters of Charity Housing Development Corporation (SCHDC) to transform an Upper West Side building into 51 units of affordable and supportive housing. The vote was 11 in favor, none opposed, with three abstentions.

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The building, known as St. Agnes Commons and located at 237 West 74th Street (between Broadway and West End Avenue), sits within the West End Collegiate Historic District and was originally built in 1910. It currently operates as a single-room occupancy residence for women — essentially a dormitory-style facility with small individual rooms and shared bathrooms — run by a nonprofit established by the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception, an order of nuns. The order is looking to sell the property because its members are aging (the average age is around 85, according to the presentation) and the building is no longer financially viable for them to operate.

SCHDC, a nonprofit founded in 1986 and sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of New York, plans to gut-renovate the building into self-contained studio apartments averaging roughly 350 square feet, each with its own kitchen and bathroom — a significant upgrade from the current configuration of small rooms without private facilities.

Who Would Live There

Under the proposal, 60 percent of the units (about 30) would be reserved for formerly homeless single adults through the city’s New York 15/15 supportive housing program, which provides referrals through the Human Resources Administration. These residents would arrive with housing vouchers and pay only 30 percent of their income in rent, with the voucher covering the remainder. The other 40 percent of units would go to low- and extremely low-income individuals and families through HPD’s Housing Connect lottery, at rents affordable to households earning 57 percent of Area Median Income or below.

Xiomara Pajaza, SCHDC’s Chief Real Estate Development Officer, presented the project and described the on-site services that would accompany it: two case managers (a ratio of one per 15 residents), a supervisor, 24-hour security, a live-in superintendent, and a porter. Services would include behavioral health care, benefits advocacy, and life skills training, all grounded in a Housing First approach.

The building would also include roughly 1,300 square feet of common space in the cellar — with a kitchenette, a recreational area, and social service offices — along with a laundry room, a bike room, and access to a rear courtyard.

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While the committee ultimately voted to back the project, the discussion was far from perfunctory. Several members pressed Pajaza on a range of issues, and the conversation at times veered into broader questions about city housing policy.

One of the most pointed exchanges concerned the roughly 80 to 90 current residents. Several committee members expressed concern about what would happen to the women currently living in the building. Pajaza explained that the residents are on short-term leases — no longer than a year — and that the building serves a transient population of students and women in the city temporarily for work. She said all current leases are set to expire before construction begins, and that SCHDC would help anyone who needed assistance finding new housing.

Not all committee members were satisfied. One member argued that SRO tenants who have lived in a unit for more than 30 days may have tenancy rights regardless of lease terms, and cautioned that the project could end up making people homeless in order to house other homeless people. The committee’s letter of support asks SCHDC to follow up with a legal analysis of tenants’ rights from their attorney, Nixon Peabody.

Another recurring theme was the reduction in total units — from roughly 80-90 rooms down to 51 apartments. Some members questioned why the committee should support a project that results in fewer units overall. Others countered that the comparison is misleading: the current rooms are tiny, lack private kitchens and bathrooms, and are not serving a homeless or low-income population. One committee member drew a parallel to a similar conversion at a Fortune Society project on West 97th Street, noting that across the city, formerly homeless individuals have been known to reject SRO-style rooms without private facilities, preferring even shelters or the street to living without a bathroom of their own.

The committee also heard from a member of the public who noted that SROs have historically served as critical affordable housing and that reducing units is a difficult trade-off, even if the new apartments are vastly improved.

Concerns About the Timeline — and a Push to Speed Things Up

Council Member Gale Brewer, who joined the meeting, urged the developer to move faster, noting that the current administration has pledged to accelerate housing production. “Is it going to take really five years?” she asked. “What can we do to work with you to make it go faster?”

Pajaza acknowledged the frustration, explaining that much of the delay is on the pre-development side — navigating the HPD pipeline, securing a 9 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credit award (which is only issued once a year), and obtaining approvals from the Department of Buildings and the Landmarks Preservation Commission. She said she would welcome help expediting the process.

According to the timeline SCHDC presented, the organization hopes to finalize design and permitting by fall 2026, close on financing and begin construction in early 2027, and complete the project with full lease-up by early 2030. The committee’s letter of support was revised to reflect this timeline more accurately and includes language urging city agencies to expedite their approvals.

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At least one committee member pressed for more detail on how the project would remain financially viable over the long term, given that rents would be well below market rate. Pajaza pointed to several mechanisms: housing vouchers for the formerly homeless residents, a full property tax exemption that comes with the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and a service contract through the New York 15/15 program that funds case management and security staff. She agreed to provide a more detailed financial summary for the committee.

What Comes Next

The committee’s letter of support — addressed to funding agencies and signed by CB7 Chair Alex Bell — backs SCHDC’s applications for Reso A capital funds, Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable Housing Program grant funds, and HPD’s 9 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. The resolution now goes before the full Community Board, which is expected to vote on it at its next meeting in early March.

SCHDC also plans to undertake a similar conversion at 425–427 West 44th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, where a companion building would be transformed into 64 units of affordable and supportive housing. The two projects together would create a combined 115 new homes.

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