If you don't make a lot of money, then a lot of New York City apartments are just not going to be within your reach. This shouldn't come as a surprise, given the current state of the rental market, and how much rents have risen in recent years. But the Urban Institute quantifies the affordability crisis with a new, detailed study that lays out, county by county across the entire country, how many units are affordable to what it labels "extremely low-income" (ELI) households. (Note: the data is for 2013 and earlier.) Those are the ones that make less than 30 percent of the county's median income. Nationwide, only 28 of every 100 ELI families could find affordable housing in 2013. The full report comes with an interactive map. In Manhattan, thoughas pictured above, there were affordable units for 41 out of 100 families. Look, at least it's not nearly as bad as Los Angeles. Yay?
Brooklyn is, in fact, a little less affordable than Manhattan for this particular population.
Queens, even less so.
The Bronx has a few more units.
And Staten Island has just about the same affordable options as Manhattan.
Note that all these numbers include all housing made available by federal assistance.
If you take away that caveat, for this group, there are virtually no affordable apartments in the entire city.
Look, at least things are getting better, relatively speaking. New York City is one of just nine cities in the U.S. where were affordable housing was actually added between 2000 and 2013.
For another perspective, check out Curbed's interactive map of where rents have risen the most since 2009the results are pretty scary. Remember, this includes rents for all populations.
· Mapping America's Rental Housing Crisis [Urban Institute]
· Stepping Up: How Cities Are Working to Keep America's Poorest Families Housed [Urban Institute]
· The Housing Affordability Gap For Extremely Low-Income Renters In 2013 [Urban Institute]
· Mapping New York neighborhoods Hit Hardest By High Rents [Curbed]
· There are 18 Apartments For Every 100 Poor Families in LA [Curbed]