WASHINGTON — A New York woman, a woman expected to earn nearly $7 billion from the Biden administration's Climate Slash Fund, was once forced through the sale of low-income housing complexes in Westchester County, and has grown by up to 80%, making it unable to spend many tenants.
SADIE MCKEOWN – a Democratic donors He was appointed by the then gov. Andrew Cuomo was issued to the state Housing Financial Institutions and Energy Research and Development Board in 2021 to receive $67.9 billion from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the last month of former President Joe Biden.
As president of the Community Conservation Corporation (CPC) nonprofit, McKeown supported a coalition of groups called Climate United to pilot the EPA cut. $20 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Inside Construction of climate-friendly housing Other carbon reduction initiatives.
President Trump blocked payments after his EPA chief Lee Zeldin took over as he took office when a Biden administration official discovered a plan that he described as “throwing from the edge of the Titanic” and frozen funds at Citibank in Manhattan.
With CPC pay peaking at $883,703 between 2019 and 2023, McKeown has long pursued a carbon-neutral agenda. Sometimes her critics accused her at the expense of her organization's “fair” mission.
In 2020, McKeown helped Brokers for sale Mountco, a commercial developer at Asbury Terrace Apartments, an affordable residential complex in Tarrytown, operates for $15.5 million.
Before sale, the 100-unit complex was owned by the Asbury Terrace Housing Development Fund. Its board consisted of leaders from churches and faith-based groups in Tarrytown, offering sub-market rentals for decades to low-income residents.
McKeun Board Chair Of that fund, while simultaneously working for Tarrytown's Housing Affordable Task Force and the Local Government Housing Authority. She signed off to buy Mountko and raised rents after petitioning the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Agency (HUD). Records submitted to Westchester County Clerk.
The December 2020 sale collected millions of dollars of net income into the Council of Housing Action Pet Project, where the executive director of another local nonprofit, Rose Noonan, served in McKeun on the Affordable Housing Task Force.
Doug Alcott, the senior vice president of CPC, who oversees the Hudson Valley region, was also tasked with approving future projects expenditures from the fund created by proceeds from the Asbury Terrace Sale.
McKeown told the Post “CPC didn't have some of the funding at Asbury Terrace,” but Alcott said he was “a volunteer and rejected himself from CPC-related stuff.” McKeown acknowledged her position on the Housing Development Fund's board of directors, claiming that the sale was “good for residents there.”
However, the acquisition of Mountco occurred. Rent hiking Between 70% and 80%, they pushed residents who said they had a tight budget from the building.
Meanwhile, some people chuckled McKeun as “suspicious sadistic” because of her elusiveness during the mountco sales process, but say the new ownership barely did any property renovations, as expected to justify such a massive increase.
Maddie Villuet, a single mother who currently lives in the apartment complex, said her payments are set to jump from $1,000 to $2,352 a month for her two-bedroom unit.
“We don't just pack our bags and leave, that's what we want to do,” Viruet says.
More than 80 units have residents who are supported with rental assistance. This means that you will have to pay up to 30% of your income to rent, but federal taxpayers cover the rest as part of the HUD program.
Many tenants, like Viruet, will have to disclose their finances and pay the rate increase that first began to take effect in September 2024 if they do not want to apply for Section 8 rental assistance.
Haydie McCarthy said he lived on Asbury Terrace from around 1990 until 2007, and once again lived for a short time in 2015, adding that his grandfather left after sale and knows other neighbors who have to move in due to increased rent.
“There was no communication from the board, except for one or two neighbors,” McCarthy said. “Most residents didn't think there would be a nonprofit or a board of directors.”
“When I was on the board in line with HUD governance and guidelines, I said that rent increases over time were taken into consideration.
“The board insisted that there was proper management, but that was there,” she added.
“We didn't want anyone to leave the building – that's just wrong,” added John Madow, adviser to Mountco.
“There was income inequality in the building. It didn't seem fair to us,” Med adds, with the non-section 8 tenants likely paying less than 30% of their income on rent, and only four tenants accepted an offer from the new owner to cover the differences between people who are not in the HUD program.
The sale in 2020 is also to take on rehabilitation work at the complex, which may have failed to agree to an agreement with HUD.
You should almost be updating your HUD roof, windows, windows, windows, cabinets, appliances, floors, lighting, lighting, lighting, boilers and coats of fresh paint.
Mado admitted that he “didn't completely replace the kitchen or bath,” but insisted that “if the work is insufficient, we'll try again.”
Critics of the sale have indicted a potential conflict of interest, violating the establishment clause of Asbury Terrace, which allegedly violated the agreement, preventing sales involving non-low-income residents or for-profit agencies of the home, according to court records.
“When you claim that you are directly interested, you should reject it,” said Adam Bradley, a lawyer who represented one of the faith-based groups during the conflict.
“They often screw people who already live in Tarrytown. They listen to these affordable residential locations, as you saw in Asbury. “It's really assigned to middle-income professionals.”
However, the New York Attorney General's Office agreed to the sale and was approved by the state Supreme Court's judicial law.
The ethical complaints filed with Tarrytown officials indicate that McKeown was allowed to jointly serve Tarrytown's Municipal Housing Authority and its Affordable Housing Task Force, but had to reject himself from the latter “any” deliberation from 2021.
McKeown no longer works in either organization.
Along with approximately $8 million in revenue from Asbury Terrace Sale and a $3 million loan from one of the Climate United groups, it has been secured further to revamp Tarrytown's YMCA with “affordable and energy efficient apartments” for seniors. Supported by New York Governor Kathy Hochul earlier this month When it's finished.
Indigenous peoples in Tarrytown have expressed skepticism that the Asbury Complex or the new YMCA is being used to accommodate village residents.
in Board meeting Last week, resident John Stiloski asked: “How many people from Tarley Town participated in affordable housing in the YMCA project?” he asked.
“They are all Tarrytown resident John,” replied Mayor Karen Brown.
“If it becomes a state housing project, anyone can live there,” Stilosky sent the Post, saying that the Asbury Terrace deal and other housing projects pushed out by village officials and McKeun's nonprofit network are alienating “all people who all people of poverty and color really need assistance.”
“We cannot limit ourselves to the people in Tarrytown,” replied Mado.
“To my knowledge, funded state or federal homes cannot be limited to community residents.”
McKeown argued that the YMCA is now made up of all affordable housing units. Most of them live with seniors who pay 30% to 70% of their income for rent, but they claimed that “the CPC did not provide funds.”
“I had no direct interest other than seeing new, affordable units developed,” she said. “It was a great way to use sales revenue. [Asbury Terrace Housing Development Fund] Sign-off via rules and AG. ”
The trio of the Climate Unification Group that won slash money from the Biden era included CPC Climate Capital, Culvert Impact and Self-Help Climate Capital.
“All three organizations have important experience in fundraising, energy efficiency and green projects in low and medium income communities,” McKeown said.
McKeun is still lobbying members of Congress, according to sources familiar with her efforts to continue the taxpayer-funded project.
