Through the East New York Neighborhood Plan, which was released in 2016 as a part of the East New York neighborhood rezoning, several designations to create deeply affordable housing were made. The Chestnut Commons development is the largest public site designated since the rezoning, which unlocked the potential to develop affrodable housing at the Dinsmore-Chestnut site.
Chestnut Commons will include a mix of studios, one, two, and three-bedroom apartments. In addition to housing for formerly homeless households, the apartments will be affordable to extremely low-, very low-, and low-income households. The development team has also committed to ensuring permanent affordability for the entire project. In addition, the development will include active recreation programs and additional social services will be provided by Cypress Hills Local Development Corp., CUNY Kingborough Community Colllege Satellite Campus, ARTS East New York Center for the Performing Arts, food manufacturing kitchen incubator, and a Brooklyn Federal Credit Union branch that will also provide financial education programs.
