It looks like Mayor de Blasio's affordable housing plan may finally be moving forward. The New York Times reports that the City Council is now supporting the mayor's plan after some significant changes, intended to increase the number of affordable units available to a wider swath of city residents. This comes after one of the plan's most vocal critics, Real Affordability For All, also got on board with the plan after the mayor's office agreed to fund a study that would determine how best to expand the plan for lower-income New Yorkers.
Plans to rezone parts of the city to add more affordable housing through Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) and Zoning for Quality and Affordability (ZQA) had earlier been met with criticism, but the City Council has now introduced enough changes that have satisfied key detractors and supporters alike, according to the Times.
One of the major changes involves reducing the affordability threshold. Some of the affordable units will now be made available at 40 percent of the area median income (AMI) which is about $31,000 for a family of three in the city. Additionally, according to the Times:
[The City Council] also lowered the top inclusionary housing level for developers, from 120 percent of the area median income, to 115 percent, about $89,000 a year for a family of three, with requirements that a portion of the apartments in those developments be created for those earning much less.
Essentially, "we changed the affordability at both ends," according to City Council member David G. Greenfield. While the plan is unlike to satisfy every critic—the president of the Partnership for New York City expressed misgivings to the Times—it's now expected to receive full City Council approval at its next meeting on March 22.