Brokers help build affordable housing

 
Members of Brokers Build will don hard hats and tool belts at a Brooklyn construction site on July 30 to help Habitat for Humanity build its largest project ever.

Stan Ponte, president of the previews marketing division of Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy, launched Brokers Build last year to raise money for affordable housing.

By the end of this year, the group aims to raise $1 million for Habitat-NYC’s 41-unit affordable housing complex, which is already under construction at 1870 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights. Brokers Build is contributing to the funding of 11 of the 41 condos, which will be housed in three buildings.

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Brokers Build hopes to recruit 1,000 members who will each donate $1,000. Alan Pfeifer, a member and senior vice president at Halstead Property, said several hundred people have been recruited, and said Joshua Lockwood, executive director of Habitat-NYC, said the group has already raised more than $125,000 for the project.

The project is being built by 10,000 Habitat volunteers. The homes, which are expected to be ready by the fall of 2009, are being designed for a LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Residents will have incomes in the $25,000 to $45,000 range, and will be offered a 30-year fixed rate mortgage tied to their income.