New York City’s housing landscape is at a crossroads. With affordability protections expiring across thousands of units and the cost of new construction soaring, we need innovative tools to preserve housing and expand access to homeownership. The Affordable Housing Retention Act (AHRA) is one such tool, and it’s already reshaping how we think about public-private collaboration, tenant protections, and long-term affordability.
Recently, I had the opportunity to join a panel alongside Sabrina Lippman (CEO, Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester County), Basha Gerhards (SVP of Planning, REBNY), and Matthew Dunbar (Chief Strategy Officer, Habitat NYC and Westchester). Together, we explored how AHRA creates new opportunities for property stewardship and homeownership. What follows are some of the key takeaways from that conversation.
Watch a replay of our recent AHRA webinar
Hear directly from the panelists as we break down the mechanics of AHRA, its implications for the housing market, and what’s next for implementation.
A smarter path to preservation
AHRA is designed to address a very specific but urgent problem: the loss of affordable housing in mixed-income buildings as regulatory agreements expire. These buildings were created with public support through programs like 421-a, low-income housing tax credits, and Liberty Bonds, but their affordability protections will vanish without intervention.
What makes AHRA so innovative is that it allows for partial building conversions. Owners of qualifying buildings can convert market-rate rental units into condominiums with just 15% of the units going into contract, down from the 51% threshold imposed by the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act. In return, the expiring affordable units are made permanently affordable and rent-stabilized—and transferred to nonprofit partners for long-term stewardship.
This is a significant shift. As I shared during the panel,
“One of the really key components of a preservation plan is that the affordable units will be transferred to a not-for-profit… that doesn’t operate for profit, but just on behalf of those tenants.” This represents an evolution in how the Martin Act approaches condominium conversions—bolstering homeownership while also protecting tenants and creating permanently affordable housing."
Centering nonprofit stewardship
One of the most powerful aspects of AHRA is its requirement that affordable units be transferred to a mission-driven nonprofit. This ensures that affordability is a permanent commitment. These nonprofits will manage the units, ensure permanent affordability, and sponsor tenants wishing to exercise the tenant opportunity to purchase their units as limited-equity cooperatives.
Matthew Dunbar emphasized the importance of this model:
“An organization like Habitat for Humanity, which is really focused on preserving and creating affordable homeownership opportunities, would be able to engage the tenants in the affordable units in a tenant opportunity to purchase approach, and potentially convert those affordable units into a limited equity affordable cooperative for ownership by those tenants.”
Streamlined, transparent, and tenant-focused
AHRA also introduces a more efficient and transparent process for preservation plans. The Attorney General’s review is expedited, and plans must include protections for both market-rate and income-restricted tenants alike.
For example, all non-purchasing tenants regardless of when they moved in receive protections under the Martin Act. Eligible seniors and disabled tenants can elect to remain as renters, with rent increases tied to “good cause” standards. And all tenants retain access to building-wide amenities.
As I emphasized during the discussion,
“AHRA was carefully designed to safeguard the rights of existing and future tenants while prioritizing homeownership at the same time.”
I’ve long advocated for these principles in my work as a real estate attorney navigating New York’s complex housing laws.
A model for collaborative policy
The passage of AHRA was the result of years of collaboration between public, private, and nonprofit sectors. As Basha Gerhards pointed out,
“This was an alignment of interests and the use of creativity to solve a number of public policy goals.”
And as Sabrina Lippman reminded us,
“This is what true collaboration looks like. It’s the kind of win New Yorkers need. More importantly, it’s the kind of win New Yorkers deserve.”