Mayor’s Plan Will Continue New York City’s Support For Affordable Housing Development

Abstract

Mayor's Plan Will Continue New York City's Support For Affordable Housing Development Drone footage of Bronx Ariel Property Advisors Drone footage of Bronx New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently released his affordable housing plan, Housing Our Neighbors: A Blueprint for Housing and Homelessness, and announced $5 billion in capital funds, bringing the city's investment to $22 billion to build and maintain affordable housing over the next ten years. How the Housing Blueprint Will Encourage New Housing Mayor Adams' Housing Blueprint encourages the development of affordable and supportive housing by promoting the conversion of hotels to residential use, adding accessory dwelling units, changing existing density and eliminating parking requirements for new projects built next to transit hubs. Remember the 70's? The city's policy of financing affordable housing development dates back to the administration of Mayor Ed Koch when the exodus of over 750,000 million New Yorkers in the 1970s left the city owning 100,000 occupied and vacant housing units. The Key is Creating New Housing, not Just Preserving Affordability While preserving affordable housing is important because it ensures that units for current tenants maintain their affordability, relying solely on housing preservation doesn't address supply constraints in a city where the demand for housing has grown and keeps growing dramatically. As a result, New York City has an immediate deficit of 230,000 housing units, and the chance of building the 560,000 housing units that will be required by 2030 is slim as only 80,000 units are currently in production, according to a REBNY-commissioned report. Although the details will follow, Mayor Adams' Housing Blueprint is encouraging because it shows that he understands the affordable housing crisis facing New Yorkers today and that he is willing to work with all stakeholders to try to solve it. Population Change vs. Housing Completions in NYC by Decade, 1921-2020 CRE Population Change vs. Housing Completions in NYC by Decade, 1921-2020 New York City ranks 16 out of 20 major metropolitan areas in new housing units per 1,000 residents developed between 2011 and 2020.