Any tenant in NYC from rent-stabilized apartments to market rate ones will tell you there’s a serious lack of affordable housing. The recent migrant crisis put additional pressure on the situation. Dan Garodnick, the Chair of the City Planning Commission, along with Mayor Adams have put across a proposal to the City Council to create a program entitled City of Yes (COY). It attempts to add some substance to the issue by encouraging construction of affordable housing on a small scale throughout the five boroughs. The emphasis is on a little amount of housing as to not overwhelm the various neighborhoods adding to the already intense pressure that comes when any aspect of real estate inflames communities already irate from issues of crime to gentrification.
For a city with 1.4% vacancy rate combined with 800,000 jobs against 200,000 units, things are really dire. Spreading out affordable housing throughout the boroughs featuring 3-5 level buildings so as to avoid the high building design so many neighborhoods detest, they want to appease all elements of the public. This would also involve conversions allowing small and shared apartments. They even figure the parking aspect, easing the pressure homeowners feel in their areas. They want to assist flood-prone areas, and zoning to link with social conditions, sanitation and sewage structures.
Mark Levine, the Manhattan Borough President, spoke up on Zoom pointing out that currently only 2% of the city is mapped for Area Median Income (AMI). This would change so that all the areas targeted in the boroughs would be adjusted for 60% Median Income of each specific neighborhood. HUD has a lot of experience in Area Median Income. Calculating roughly the average of income in each area 60% would be allocated for affordable housing. Their Universal Affordability Preference (UAP) program would add overall 20% more housing stock to the city. This translates to a beneficial 100,000 more housing units according to Mark Levine. Dan Garodnick predicts from 58,000 to the increase of 108,900 affordable units. This is progress. Also, this plan covers the conversion of office buildings that are vacant to apartment units presumably affordable.
Much care in this legislation attends to density recognizing the concerns and needs of each community. Low density areas are generally home owners. In this respect, especially in the borough of Queens, one of the largest areas of home ownership, much antagonism came up both in the aspect of NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) and the feelings of threat that they feel comes from low-income people disturbing their well-kept neighborhoods. Also, they complained of developers which would come in to the sites encroaching on small businesses. Dan Garodnick stipulated he hoped to make sure housing units would occupy above commercial establishments.
Zoning accommodates land ownership both city-style and for private interests. In all of this conversation there was no mention of land trusts, which could also make headway in the affordable housing issue.
At any rate this is proposed legislation which hasn’t passed as yet. So stay tuned…