Checking in on New York City's Affordable Housing Efforts

A post on the NYU Furman Center's website shares news of a new study: "Housing, Neighborhoods, and Opportunity: The Location of New York City’s Subsidized Affordable Housing (PDF), a report released today by the NYU Furman Center’s Moelis Institute for Affordable Housing Policy, examines changes in the location and neighborhood characteristics of subsidized rental housing in New York City."

"The study shows that the distribution of subsidized rental units across New York City’s neighborhoods changed significantly between 2002 and 2011, not just as a result of new development, but also because of differential opt-out rates across neighborhoods."

The post also notes that over the next decade, "over 58,000 units of subsidized rental housing will be eligible to opt out of affordability restrictions" in the city.

That figure segues nicely into a discussion of Mayor Bill de Blasio's goal to protect or develop 200,000 units of affordable housing over the next ten years, which will encounter challenges like those detailed in the aforementioned report. Andrew J. Hawkins reports that Mayor de Blasio held a press conference this week to announce that "[the] city preserved 11,185 affordable apartments and financed the creation of 6,191 new ones in 2014…"

"The total number for 2014 exceeded the city's projections by about 1,300 and represents 8.6% of the mayor's ultimate goal of 200,000 units over 10 years. The mayor said the city is moving to ramp up preservation and production efforts to around 20,000 units per year."

Hawkins also includes more details about the types of units preserved and created and where they are located.