Houses to be built on Hurricane Sandy-ravaged lots will be affordable for firefighters, EMTs, nurses [Video]

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — City officials visited Staten Island Tuesday to discuss a project set to transform lots ravaged by Hurricane Sandy into 23 new housing units.

Those units will be spread across Midland Beach and South Beach in seven single-family and eight two-family homes, which will be sold to buyers at 80%-100% of the area median income or those who make about $111,000 to $150,000 annually, Stephen Erdman, the executive director of home ownership and shared equity at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).

“We’re thinking about firefighters, EMTs, nurses — you know, workforce families,” he said. “The types of people who live in Staten Island and the community currently, that’s really what the project is for.”

Each of the lots were part of the city’s Build It Back program, which typically helped those with Hurricane Sandy-ravaged homes with repairs after the 2012 storm. …