Albany

Lauren Manning knows how important affordable housing can be.

After she was laid off, she didn't know how she'd be able to pay the rent. Then an apartment became available at the brand new 280 North apartment building in Arbor Hill.

The Albany Housing Authority building, part of the multi-year revitalization effort of the Ida Yarbrough Homes on North Pearl Street, would require rent equal to just portion of her income.

Today, Manning, who no longer worries about having a roof over her head, managed to return to school, and is one semester away from her bachelor's degree in public policy.

And her two children, who have asthma, "haven't had a single attack since we moved here," Manning told the crowd gathered for the building's official ribbon cutting Wednesday morning.

"Thank you for providing us the type of housing many people say we do not deserve," she said.

The seven-story building has a fitness center operated by CDPHP on the top floor and an outdoor observation deck on the fifth floor. Green space and a playground are also part of the development, and the building is on bus routes and close to jobs and cultural activities.

The Palace Theater is down the street and Capital Repertory Theatre is building its new home close by.

And Manning has the mayor of Albany as a neighbor.

"This is my neighborhood. I've lived in it for two whole weeks," said Mayor Kathy Sheehan, who recently sold a home in the city's Buckingham Pond neighborhood after renovating an Arbor Hill brownstone. "We are going to create a city where every neighborhood works," she added.

A number of funding sources and tax credits were used to pay for the $26.8 million project, which has 76 apartments. New York State Homes and Community Renewal provided the bulk of that.

"HCR provided federal and state Low-Income Housing Credits that generated $18 million in equity an additional $2 million in subsidy," a spokesman said.

The first phase, a $19 million effort, saw the construction of 61 town homes and garden apartments.

Two future phases will include construction of mixed-income housing, including some units that will be owner-occupied, and rehabilitation of the original apartment towers at Ida Yarbrough that date from the early 1970s.

"The Albany Housing Authority has made the redevelopment of the Ida Yarbrough housing and neighborhood a priority for a number of years," said Philip Morris, CEO of the Proctors Collaborative, which includes Capital Repertory Theatre. "The results are coming in quickly now with hundreds of market rate, as well as affordable housing options, new attractions like Albany Distilling and Death Wish coffee, and the new complex for Capital Repertory Theatre," he added in prepared remarks. "Looks like a home run!" he concluded.