Forest Houses

Public housing development in the Bronx, New York

NYCHA property in New York, United States

Forest Houses

NYCHA property

Location within New York City

Coordinates: 40°49′30″N 73°54′17″W﻿ / ﻿40.825040°N 73.904660°W﻿ / 40.825040; -73.904660
Country|  United States
State|  New York
City| New York City
Borough| Bronx
ZIP codes|

10456

Area code(s)| 718, 347, 929, and 917

The Forest Houses are a housing project in Morrisania, Bronx. The project consists of fifteen buildings, 9, 10 and 14-stories tall with 1,350 apartment units. It covers a 17.72-acre expanse, and is bordered by East 163rd and East 166th Streets, and Trinity and Tinton Avenues. It is owned and managed by New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).[1]

## Development

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Plans for the Forest Houses began in 1949 with securing the funds from the federal government. NYCHA officials stated that the housing program is primarily a slum clearance program and they intend the finished development to provide better living conditions and a walkable community for the residents.[2] During demolition of the slums, the area was likened to a "bomb blast scene" and held a defense test on the site.[3] The development's design incorporated well-received modern features at the Carver Houses, including compact kitchens, electric ranges, and a refrigerator with freezer.[4] NYCHA publicized that the tenants would be 58% Black and 42% non-Black, most of which were Puerto Rican.[5] The Forest Houses were completed on November 12, 1956.[1]

In 2013, Forest Houses residents worked with artist Thomas Hirschhorn to a space to encourage the exchange between people, ideas and communities in the form of a pavilion.[6] Also that year, NYCHA and Mayor Bloomberg sold a portion of the development's property for the addition of a new privately owned building to offset the agency's capital needs.[7][8] The eight-story LEED-certified building was designated for low-income households earning less than 60 percent of the area median income and cost approximately $37.7 million to build.[8]

## Notable residents

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* Diamond D (born 1968), producer[9]
* Fat Joe (born 1970), rapper and actor[9]
* Coko (born 1970), r&b singer[9]
* Lord Finesse (born 1970), rapper and producer[9]
* Showbiz, producer[9]
* PHASE 2, graffiti writer[9]

## References

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1. ^ a b "MyNYCHA Developments Portal". my.nycha.info. Archived from the original on 2021-08-28. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
2. ^ "80,000 APARTMENTS IN CITY PROJECTED; 500,000 Will Live in Public Housing Here by 1957, Local Authority Hopes". The New York Times. November 20, 1949. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
3. ^ "AREA FOR DEFENSE TEST; It Is Housing Project Site and Resembles Bomb Blast Scene". The New York Times. November 23, 1952. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
4. ^ "TENANTS REJOICE IN CARVER HOUSES; Aged Get First 8 Apartments in Uptown Project -- Special Features Have Big Appeal". The New York Times. January 26, 1955. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
5. ^ Bloom, Nicholas Dagen (2014-08-04). Public Housing That Worked: New York in the Twentieth Century. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812201321.
6. ^ "NYCHA - Forest Houses Residents To Help Build New Art Monument". www1.nyc.gov. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
7. ^ Bloom, Nicholas Dagen; Lasner, Matthew Gordon (2016). Affordable Housing in New York: The People, Places, and Policies That Transformed a City. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691167817.
8. ^ a b Velsey, Kim (2013-02-21). "An Arbor In the Forest: Green Affordable Housing Development Opens In the Bronx". Observer. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
9. ^ a b c d e f Kimble, Julian (2013-09-26). "Which NYC Housing Projects Have Produced the Most Famous People?Marcy Houses". Complex. Retrieved 2016-10-27.

* Development Map