The city has financed the creation and preservation of nearly 53,000 units of low- to moderate-income housing since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office, officials announced on Monday.
The numbers put the mayor on track to meet his goal of creating 80,000 new affordable housing units and preserving 120,000 by 2024, but the expiration of the 421a tax abatement program threatens to put a damper on his progress, Politico reported.
Developers and city officials have bemoaned the tax break’s absence, with some even saying that Mandatory Inclusionary Housing isn’t effective without it.
Of the units financed, 17,341 will be new construction, while the remaining 35,595 units existing apartments that were preserved. The numbers were helped by the preservation of 5,000 units at Stuyvesant Town, purchased by Blackstone Group [TRDataCustom] and Ivanhoe Cambridge for $5.3 billion, as well as the flood of new building permits that were filed just before 421a lapsed in January.
It’s not clear how many of the new units were created through 421a, but permit activity has already slowed since the program expired. In March, one-third of the 13,929 units financed at the time received the subsidy. [Politico] — Kathryn Brenzel