Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Affordable Housing

Affordable Housing

  • A Promising New Plan to Save New York City Public Housing

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    NYCHA needs to be saved (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    The New York City Housing Authority is putting forward a promising new plan to preserve each public housing unit in its portfolio. Mayor Bill de Blasio, and previous mayors, have put forward multiple plans intended to save NYCHA, but this one bears attention and support because with sufficient community input and political support, it has a real chance of success. 

    For more than half-a-million renters in New York City — a city within the city — public housing has provided

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  • City Threatens to Exacerbate Affordable Housing Crisis for New York Seniors

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    Mayor de Blasio talks with seniors (photo: Demetrius Freeman/Mayor's Office)


    For far too long, older adults in New York City have been struggling to find a safe and affordable place to call home. The pandemic has exacerbated these challenges and exacerbated an affordable housing emergency that’s especially dangerous for populations including New York’s low-income seniors. As we look to recover, we need to prioritize the sustained production of affordable housing, particularly as a way to stabilize and support our older residents now and in the future.

    Older New Yorkers

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: What's the Right Affordable Housing Policy in the COVID-19 Aftermath?

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    (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    June 10, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: What's the Right Housing Policy in the COVID-19 Aftermath?

    Barika Williams, Executive Director of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, and Jolie Milstein, President and CEO of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, joined the show to discuss the post-coronavirus crisis landscape for affordable housing development in New York City.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter

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  • It’s Actually the Perfect Time for City Government to Invest in Housing

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    Mayor de Blasio makes a housing announcement (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    In the wake of the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus shutdown, Mayor de Blasio must find budget savings anywhere he can, while still advancing his mission to make New York “the fairest big city” in America.  

    It won’t be easy. But the sudden drop in tax revenue should not stop the mayor from continuing to make one smart investment: creating new affordable housing.

    With the pandemic exposing the full extent of the city’s homeless crisis, now is

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  • Renters are Facing an Unprecedented Emergency; We Need a Federal Answer, Not a Rent Strike

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    An economic crisis is upon us (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)


    For millions of American families, making rent each month is a familiar struggle: last October, a new analysis found that half of American renters were spending more than they could afford on monthly rent payments. But now, with the COVID-19 pandemic ushering in a new economic crisis and the real unemployment rate at ...

  • Jails, Affordable Housing and Other Capital Projects Delayed as City Grapples with Cash Crunch

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    New York City building projects are on the chopping block (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    The coronavirus fallout has created a severe cash crunch for New York City, forcing Mayor Bill de Blasio to slash his proposed operating budget for the next fiscal year by $6 billion, with more cuts likely before adoption. At the same time, the city’s cash flow problems mean that its capital plan, a four-year, $67.2 billion agenda that pays for crucial, long-term infrastructure like schools and roads, will also need modification and could mean some major changes to

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  • The Coronavirus Crisis Demands a Federal Emergency Housing Response

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    Keeping people in their homes is of the essence, the author writes (photo Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office


    The federal response to the economic crisis just over a decade ago swiftly bailed out banks and other financial institutions, but left far too many struggling families in the lurch. It was too little, too late. This was devastatingly true for black families, whose home-ownership rates dropped from 50% to 42%, representing an enormous loss of generational wealth.

    We must respond differently this time to ensure that homeowners hold onto their homes and apartment building

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  • City Council Members and De Blasio Planning Chief Spar Over Neighborhood Rezonings at Budget Hearing

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    Mayor de Blasio makes an announcement (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photo Office)


    What was ostensibly meant to be a City Council hearing on the proposed preliminary budget for the Department of City Planning on Tuesday turned into a debate about the de Blasio administration’s approach to neighborhood rezonings. Several Council members expressed their displeasure with rapid gentrification and resident displacement, and what they believe are the city’s insufficient efforts to stop those trends while at times exacerbating them through rezonings, while Mayor

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  • Lessons from Amazon 'HQ2': Corporate Tax Incentives and Affordable Housing Need to be a Package Deal

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    The planned Amazon site (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


    This week marks the one-year anniversary of Amazon’s contentious withdrawal from its Long Island City plans. Meanwhile, the construction of 'HQ2’ is making steady progress in Arlington County, Virginia, and

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  • Stringer Calls for 'Universal Affordable Housing' and Overhaul of City Subsidy Use

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    Comptroller Scott Stringer (photo: @NYCComptroller)


    New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer on Wednesday again took aim at perhaps the most pressing issue facing New Yorkers: housing affordability, and while repeatedly criticizing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s approach, unveiled a new plan headlined by a “universal affordable housing” proposal to require income-targeted units in every new development across the five boroughs.

    Stringer, a fellow Democrat who hopes to succeed the term-limited de Blasio by winning next year’s mayoral election, is also

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Taking Stock of City Housing & Neighborhood Development Policies

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    (photo: Ed Reed/Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio)


    January 15, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Taking Stock of City Housing & Neighborhood Development Policies

    matt murphy 150Matthew Murphy, executive director of NYU's Furman Center and a former city housing official, joined the show to discuss the city's housing and neighborhood rezoning policies, and the larger housing context.

    Listen to

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: The Bushwick Rezoning Hits an Impasse

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    Council Member Reynoso (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    January 15, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: The Bushwick Rezoning Hits an Impasse

    antonio rey wbai150City Council Member Antonio Reynoso joined the show to discuss the controversy over the possible rezoning of part of Bushwick, plans for which have hit an impasse, with Reynoso and others backing one plan and the de Blasio administration in

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Comptroller Scott Stringer

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    Comptroller Stringer (photo: @NYCComptroller)


    November 20, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Comptroller Scott Stringer

    City Comptroller Scott Stringer returned to the show to discuss various aspects of the work his office has been doing and various issues facing the city, touching on affordable housing, child care, NYCHA, and much more. The comptroller repeatedly criticized Mayor Bill de Blasio's management of city government and previewed his pitch for his 2021 mayoral campaign.

    Listen to the conversation and

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  • A Well-Meaning But Misguided Housing Proposal

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    Council Member Salamanca (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    A year ago, a homeless woman confronted Mayor de Blasio during his gym workout in Park Slope to ask why the city doesn’t set aside more apartments for homeless people. The incident and a video of it in which the mayor refused to talk with the woman, Nathylin Flowers Adesegun, were widely ...

  • Questioning Jails Plan, Advocates Seek ‘New Deal’ to Address Homelessness

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    Friday's press conference (photo: Vocal New York)


    A coalition of housing rights advocates and elected officials is seeking a “new deal” for homeless people living in New York City, as one activist put it at a rally on Friday.

    Members of the coalition gathered in front of City Hall to point out what they believe to be shortcomings of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing agenda and the dangers of celebrating too early the plan to shutter the Rikers Island jails. The jails are a cornerstone of the city’s criminal justice system that the advocates say

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  • To End the Homelessness Crisis It’s Time to Refocus the City’s Housing Plan - Here’s How

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    The authors and others at a rally (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    More than 61,000 men, women, and children will sleep in New York City shelters tonight, and this historic homelessness crisis will continue to devastate the lives of even more people unless Mayor de Blasio embraces the common sense plans that we have put forward from a City Council office and the Coalition for the Homeless, respectively.

    The record number of homeless New Yorkers will continue to reach new highs every year, according to the latest report from the Coalition. In stark contrast to Mayor

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  • City Planning Chief on De Blasio Administration's Zoning for Growth, and the Need for More Housing in the Suburbs

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    City Planning Director Marisa Lago (photo: May Vutrapongvatana)


    In a Friday morning speech about how New York City’s limited space is used, Marisa Lago, director of the Department of City Planning, discussed some of the department’s approaches to the housing, employment, and equity challenges facing the city.

    The city has a population of 8.4 million and is “the only older U.S. city that has surpassed its 1970s-era population peak,” said Lago, who was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to direct the Department of City Planning and chair the City

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  • Assessing Alicia Glen's Impact on the City's Physical Landscape - Part II: 'Chunky and Funky'

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    Alicia Glen cristens a ferry (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    This is part two of a two-part series on former Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen's impact on the "built environment" of New York City. Jump to part one here.

    Part one of this series focused on Glen's style and leadership broadly, as well as her legacy on housing, including the de

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  • Assessing Alicia Glen's Impact on the City’s Physical Space - Part I: 'We have completely changed the housing landscape'

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    Alicia Glen (photo: Paige Polk/Mayor's Office)


    This is part one of a two-part series on former Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen's impact on the "built environment" of New York City. Find part two -- on economic development, transit, and more -- here.

    It’s the year 2026 in New York City. Hundreds of thousands of new units of rent-restricted apartments have been added to the city’s housing stock as the

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  • An Old, Unfair System: New York City’s Property Tax Conundrum - Part II - Deep and Complex Inequities

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    (photo: Edwin J. Torres/ Mayor's Office)


    This is part two of a three-part series. Read part one - Taking on the Difficult Task - here. (Skip to part three - The City's Bottom Line - here.)

    Elected officials and their critics alike have decried the complexity and inequality of the state’s property tax system.

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  • Leaving the REBNY vs NIMBY Doom Loop

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    (photo: NYC Planning)


    This past week, amidst flooded streets, blackouts, overheated jails, and subway failures, New Yorkers saw the consequences that result from a failure to engage in strategic long-term planning for the future of our city. In the final decisions of the 2019 Charter Revision Commission, we also missed a big chance to do something about it.

    The dangers of failing to invest strategically in the infrastructure that sustains our city will grow in coming decades, as temperatures

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  • As Cuomo and Heastie Trade Comments on Anti-Poverty Efforts, a Closer Look at What They've Done

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    Speaker Heastie & Governor Cuomo (photo: the governor's office)


    Despite previously lauding the 2019 state legislative session as the “most productive session in modern political history,” Governor Andrew Cuomo went on to call the session “not progressive enough,” citing a need “to do more on poverty.”

    At his celebratory, mostly upbeat end-of-session press conference on June 21, Cuomo was asked about what did not get done, and cited three issues he said he would work on next year: legalizing adult-use marijuana and paid

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  • New State Rent Regulations Complicate Inwood Rezoning Lawsuit Against the City

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    Inwood (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    New York state government’s recent rent regulation reforms gave tenant advocates reason to celebrate, eliminating major loopholes that allowed landlords to raise rents and deregulate units among the roughly 1 million city apartments currently governed by the rent laws. One unforeseen consequence of the new Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, however, is how the strengthened regulations may imperil a tenant lawsuit against New York City government on the impacts of a recent neighborhood rezoning of Inwood,

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  • When Owners Neglect Buildings and Don’t Pay Taxes, Tenants Suffer – The City Can Help

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    (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photography Office)


    As Benjamin Franklin famously wrote, "in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." This is true for property owners who maintain their buildings and pay their property taxes in full each year, but for the few who do not, there can be consequences, including foreclosure.

    Often, the failure to pay taxes is indicative of a litany of issues, such as physical deterioration of the building. Imagine being a resident of a tax-delinquent building: you've worked hard to pay your rent, and you

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  • Criticizing De Blasio Rezonings, Williams Introduces 'Racial Impact Study' Requirement

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Fulfilling a promise he made in his successful campaign for public advocate, Jumaane Williams introduced legislation on Wednesday that would require the city to conduct an assessment of expected racial and ethnic impact brought on by proposed neighborhood rezonings, in order to ensure that the city is complying with the federal Fair Housing Act, and combat segregation and displacement.

    The Fair housing Act, passed in 1968, is meant to protect against discrimination in the sale, purchase,

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