Mayor Debuts Affordable Housing Plan

NEW YORK CITY—Mayor Bill de Blasio Monday laid out a 10-year plan to build or preserve 200,000 affordable apartments across all five boroughs. The $41 billion Housing New York: A Five-Borough, Ten-Year Plan is expected to reach New York's middle class as well as those with very low incomes.

Housing New York outlines the broad principles and the specific policies city agencies will implement to reach Mayor de Blasio's goal. The plan calls for: 120,000 affordable housing units to be preserved and 80,000 to be newly built; affordability programs to serve households ranging from middle- to extremely low-income (under $25,150 for a family of four); agencies to use every tool at their disposal to protect tenants in both subsidized affordable housing and rent-regulated housing from the tide of deregulation, and to combat neglect and disrepair that threatens many affordable buildings.

In addition, under the plan, the city will undertake ground-up neighborhood planning to identify corridors and communities with opportunities for more housing (both affordable and market rate), and coordinate greater density with necessary infrastructure; and the city promises to streamline the development process and help to contain construction costs by overhauling outdated regulations and removing duplicative agency processes.

On the employment front, the plan is expected to generate approximately 194,000 construction jobs and nearly 7,100 permanent jobs, and the city pledges to work with stakeholders to make sure they are quality jobs and integrated into the city's workforce development ecosystem.

 “We have a crisis of affordability on our hands, so we are marshaling every corner of government and the private sector in an unprecedented response,” de Blasio says. “The changes we are setting in motion today will reach a half-million New Yorkers, in every community, and from every walk of life.”

Adds Alicia Glen, Deputy Mayor for housing and economic development, “We are committed to innovating new ways for government and the private sector to work together to realize these ambitious goals.”

Steven Spinola, president, Real Estate Board of New York says, “I want to commend Mayor de Blasio and his talented staff for putting forward a plan that attempts to deal with the housing needs for all New Yorkers. It identifies the problems and provides a realistic roadmap for solutions. The Real Estate Board of New York looks forward to working with the administration to implement these critical objectives.”

“Mayor de Blasio's housing plan is a significant and ambitious step forward in the efforts to ensure that New York remains accessible to everyone,” notes Bill Rudin, chairman, Association for a Better New York. “We agree that the time is right to take bold new steps to address our city's housing crisis, and we applaud Mayor de Blasio and his administration for issuing this important plan. We look forward to working with the Mayor and his team to meet these critical goals for our city.”

The 115-page plan is said to outline more than 50 initiatives that will accelerate affordable construction, protect tenants and deliver more value from affordable housing investments.