Developers who applied to build hundreds of affordable housing units in Manhattan and Brooklyn through the city’s Inclusionary Housing Program in the last 15 months have completely ignored Queens, according to city records.
Out of 58 applications the city received for the program from January 2014 through March 26 of this year, 30 were for projects in Brooklyn, 26 were in Manhattan and two were for the Bronx, according to Department of Housing Preservation and Development data.
None of the applications were for projects in Queens, according to DNAinfo, with city officials noting that they can’t control where developers seek to build affordable housing under the voluntary incentive program.
The lack of applications for Queens was likely caused by the city’s bureaucratic zoning system, with only a few designated areas in the borough – including small parts of Astoria, Woodside, Sunnyside and downtown Jamaica – eligible for the program under Department of City Planning regulations. Staten Island, meanwhile, is completely ineligible.
The projects filed over the course of the period would bring at least 1,539 affordable units to Manhattan, 1,301 units to Brooklyn and 52 to the Bronx, according to HPD data.
The de Blasio administration last week presented a new proposal for a “Mandatory Inclusionary Housing” provision in the city’s affordable housing plan, which would require developers to include affordable units in projects built in certain areas of the city or in return for city rezoning approval. [DNAinfo] – Rey Mashayekhi