Explaining the Importance of Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning

A few excerpts from an article by Justin Davison:

"Could there be a more soporific or cryptic string of words than mandatory inclusionary zoning, the new rallying cry in the fight to make New York a place where New Yorkers can afford to live? And yet it’s an exciting concept, especially if your rent-regulated apartment is going co-op and you can’t afford to stay, or if you’ve fought to make your neighborhood a more pleasant place to live and now your children can no longer afford to live where they grew up. The city is drowning in its own money, and this is a lifejacket for those who can’t swim."

"That’s an expensive proposition: $6.7 billion in housing subsidies over the next decade, plus another billion or so to bring rezoned neighborhoods up to snuff. 'This isn’t just an issue of equity; it’s also an issue of growth,' says city planning commissioner Carl Weisbrod. In more affluent areas, developers will have to build the affordable (i.e. money-losing) apartments themselves, which effectively means that well-off residents subsidize their less affluent neighbors. (That, more or less, is what taxes do, too.)"