Mayor de Blasio, Deputy Mayor Vicki Been and others at ribbon cutting for a new affordable housing development in the Bronx from August 2021. Image Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
The goal was part of a plan built to address the city’s lack of affordable housing. On December 22, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the City has reached the goal of building or preserving 200,000 affordable homes by the end of this administration.
The goal of financing or preserving 200,000 affordable units within ten years was first established under the Housing New York plan. In the Housing New York 2.0 plan, released in 2017, expanded on these goals, and set a pace of preserving or creating 25,000 affordable units per year with a goal of reaching 300,000 affordable units by 2026. In 2020, Mayor de Blasio announced YOUR Home NYC, the next phase of Housing New York, which prioritized building new homes for the lowest income New Yorkers and creating other programs to benefit tenants.
Over the administration, more than 66,000 affordable units have been created and another 134,000 have been preserved. Forty-six percent of the homes created or preserved serve New Yorkers earning $42,000 per year or $54,000 for a family of three. To target vulnerable populations, 12,937 homes have been financed for seniors and 16,015 units have been set aside for homeless New Yorkers. Almost 7,900 of those homes include supportive on-site social services.
Other highlights of the efforts of the Housing New York plans through this administration include:
– The creation of the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) program, established in 2016. The program requires developers seeking zoning actions to set aside a portion of their units for affordable housing.
– Preserving the City’s Mitchell-Lama housing stock by revamping programs to ensure the financial and physical health of Mitchell-Lama buildings. Over 67,000 Mitchell-Lama apartments have been preserved.
– Major neighborhood rezonings Like Jerome Avenue, Inwood, Bay Street, Downtown Far Rockaway, East New York, and most recently Gowanus and SoHo/NoHo help create and preserve more affordable housing.
– Building affordable housing on City-owned sites. Over 13,000 affordable units have been created in these spaces.
– Launching Where We Live NYC, a plan to develop strategies to build more integrated neighborhoods that better serve their communities.
– Updating design guidelines to create more sustainable housing.
– Increased support for homeowners through programs like HomeFix, which provides funds for critical repairs for lower income homeowners. Other programs like HomeFirst help provide down payment assistance to lower income home buyers.
Mayor Bill de Blasio stated, “There’s no fight more fundamental to the future of our city than the one to keep it affordable for working families. In 2014, we set the most ambitious goal in this city’s history to build and preserve affordable housing – and today, thanks to eight years of hard work, we met it. Those affordable units have done more than just keep working families stably housed amid unprecedented challenges. They will help ensure a fairer, more diverse, and more vibrant New York City for generations to come.”
HPD Commissioner Louise Carroll stated, “This Administration’s historic achievement is a testament to the City’s workforce and its partners, but the real legacy lives with the thousands of families who now have an affordable home to raise families, work hard, and pursue their dreams. Housing New York has placed the City in its strongest position yet to tackle the affordability crisis ahead, leaving behind an impressive production pipeline able to secure, on average, 25,000 units each year while deepening affordability to reach the lowest income New Yorkers and laying out a blueprint for fair housing and equity through the Where We Live NYC initiative. Since 2014, the plan has evolved into an all-around and all-hands-on-deck approach to helping New Yorkers afford rent, buy a first home, fight tenant harassment, maintain safe living conditions, help families stay in their neighborhoods, house the most vulnerable families, and build stronger neighborhoods. The plan has generated more than 200,000 affordable homes in 8 years, and trailblazed a path for a fairer New York City.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the CityLaw fellow and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)
Yes, but how many building owners abided by the rules and the obligations they agreed to but did not meet. Especially when the benefits were quality of life features for tenants?
At the 80/20 building where I reside, the regulatory agreement and what actually exists are diametrically opposed!