New York Unlikely to Receive Federal Support in Solving Housing Crisis

Crain's New York Business examines recent statements by New York Planning Commission Chair Carl Weisbrod about the need for federal support if New York is to hit its affordable housing targets.

1 minute read

March 25, 2015, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Greg David follows up on a controversial statement last week by Carl Weisbrod regarding the likelihood that New York City will accomplish Mayor Bill de Blasio's ambitious goal to create 200,000 affordable housing units in the city as part of the "Housing New York" plan.

Weisbrod's words, as spoken to a Crain's forum: "For all our effort, even if we hit all our targets, we won’t fully solve the housing crisis in the next decade unless there is a radical change in federal housing policy—sadly an unlikely occurrence…"

Joe Anuta covered Weisbrod's statement at the time, noting that "the federal government has made cuts to several programs used by the city to create affordable housing, including funding streams for the New York City Housing Authority."

David followed up on Weisbrod's claim by crunching the data on three key ways the federal governments has funded housing in New York over the past three years. David notes that "two of the three have declined sharply in the past decade, not factoring in inflation."

Tuesday, March 24, 2015 in Crain's New York Business

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