Image Credit: NYC HPD
The addition of over 25,000 affordable homes brings the City’s total affordable homes financed since 2014 to over 147,000. On February 3, 2020, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced that the City financed 25,889 homes in 2019. Of this number, 15,692 affordable homes were preserved and another 10,197 new affordable homes were financed.
The addition of new affordable homes is a part of the Housing New York plan, the de Blasio administration’s efforts to reach a goal of 300,000 affordable units by 2026. So far, with the addition of 2019’s affordable homes, the City has created or preserved 147,933 affordable homes since 2014 with a $6.6 billion investment from the City.
In 2019, the City also made gains in homeless and supportive housing. Out of the over 25,000 affordable homes, 3,030 homes were set aside for people experiencing homelessness, with 1,482 homes also receiving supportive services.
In terms of affordability, nearly 45 percent of the homes financed were for extremely-low and very-low income families, which included families of three earning less than $48,050 annually. According to HPD, 5,257 of these homes went to families earning less than $28,830 a year. Since the beginning of the Housing New York plan, the City has financed housing for 25,199 extremely-low income households and 36,054 very-low income households. To view the data on the number of homes financed by Housing New York, click here.
Mayor Bill de Blasio stated, “We are fighting to create a City that New Yorkers can afford to call home. With every affordable apartment, we are stabilizing the lives of families across the City, but we are not stopping there. From establishing the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants to giving New Yorkers the representation they need to fight off eviction, we have the backs of tenants as we continue to ensure that New York is the fairest city in America.”
Vicki Been, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, stated, “We are delivering on the nation’s most ambitious affordable housing plan in its densest and most complex city. We want to ensure that every New Yorker, regardless of their income, has a place to call home and thrive in our great city.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the CityLaw fellow and a New York Law School Graduate, Class of 2018.)
Question is, how many of the newly constructed units were for low and extremely low income households, and how many of the units for low and extremely low income households were newly constructed.