From left: Bill de Blasio and chart of affordable housing constructed in New York City (credit: New York Building Congress)
In the last three years, affordable housing accounted for 21 percent of new residential units approved in the city, according to a new report by the New York Building Congress.
From January 2014 through the first quarter of this year, the city approved permits for 99,124 residential units. Most of the affordable housing units — 39 percent — were located in the Bronx, according to the report. Brooklyn followed with 29 percent and then Manhattan with 19 percent. Queens accounted for 11 percent, and Staten Island, only 2 percent.
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s affordable housing goal — to create 80,000 new affordable housing units by 2024 — has faced some significant hurdles in the past few months, especially when it comes to his signature Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. The City Council has rejected several residential projects that would have built a mix of market-rate and affordable housing, with local politicians often saying they didn’t feel enough units were dedicated to very low-income residents.
Still, under de Blasio, the city has financed 77,651 new and preserved apartments. A majority of the units — 37,699 — were for tenants making between 51 and 80 percent of the area median income (AMI), or $42,951 to $68,720, according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The city has so far financed 14,784 units for moderate- and middle-income tenants — three-person households making $69,000 to $141,735.
Last month, Politico reported that the city will be cutting down on the number of overall units subsidized in this range, from 44,000 to 39,000.