Photo Courtesy of Edwin Torres/Mayoral Photography Office
“[W]e are building and protecting the most affordable housing in a generation,” said Mayor de Blasio.
By Forum Staff
The City financed more affordable housing in 2016 than in any time in the past 25 years, Mayor Bill de Blasio noted last week as he detailed “major progress” in his Housing New York plan.
Unveiled in 2014, Housing New York calls for the creation and preservation of 200,000 affordable units across the five boroughs over the next 10 years. Last Thursday, de Blasio said that since 2014 his team has extended affordability “for decades to come” at 41,600 homes and spurred construction of 20,800 new affordable apartments.
“This is about saving a mixed-income New York, and so we’ve held nothing back,” said Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen. “We doubled the housing capital budget. We rewrote every term sheet to get more for the public in every housing project. We passed the biggest overhaul of city zoning in 50 years. And it is making a difference.”
According to the administration, new units financed under Housing New York are starting to be available to come on-line, and families are starting to move into those homes. Nearly 10,000 newly constructed affordable homes have been made available to families in NYC since 2014, and de Blasio estimates that another 3,500 new City-financed homes will be ready for families to move into in 2017.
“If you are worried about paying your rent, we are fighting for you every day. No matter how much it changes, this is still your city. It must be a place for everyone, or it won’t work for anyone. That’s why we are building and protecting the most affordable housing in a generation,” said Mayor de Blasio.
According to the administration, some signs of Housing New York progress in 2016 included:
More senior housing: New programs, including the Senior Affordable Rental Apartments, have resulted in the construction and preservation of 1,166 affordable apartments for the growing senior population. This brings the total number of senior affordable apartments financed to date to more than 4,000.
More apartments for the very lowest-income families: The federal government has historically provided housing support to the poorest households, while the City supported low-income working households. With Washington cutting back, the City established the Extremely Low and Low Income Affordability program. In 2016, 19 percent of the homes financed were for New Yorkers making less than $19,050, or $24,500 for a family of three. Approximately 4,200 homes for extremely-low income families were financed last year, bringing the three-year total to 8,877.
New Rules for growth: Implemented the strongest Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program in the nation that requires developers to create permanently affordable housing as a condition of development in areas rezoned for growth. MIH is responsible for over 4,500 affordable housing units, 1,500 of which will be permanently affordable, de Blasio said.
Stable housing for the formerly homeless: The City indicated that it financed 2,546 apartments for the formerly homeless in 2016, bringing the HNY total to 5,160.
Easier Access: Introduced new affordable housing lottery rules to make it simpler and fairer to apply. The changes prohibit owners from rejecting an applicant solely on the basis of credit history or housing court history; promote a streamlined interview process to reduce applicant no-shows; offer greater language access and accessibility for people with disabilities at all stages of the application process; consistency in how developers and marketing agents communicate with applicants; increased privacy protections; and increased transparency of the appeal process.
