With already 77,650 units under its belt, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York Plan to build and preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing over 10 years has been making strides toward its goal. However, a new report released by the Real Affordability for All coalition (RAFA) argues that the mayor’s initiative isn’t serving the city’s extremely low-income New Yorkers, and thereby failing those who need help the most, reports DNAinfo.
According to the report, just 14 percent of the 77,650 affordable housing units created in the past four years under the mayor’s plan have targeted families earning less than $25,000 a year.
“Despite the constant self-congratulatory press conferences announcing progress toward the 200,000 goal his plan does not include nearly enough apartments at the lower income tiers— where the affordability crisis is most acute and most painful,” states the report.
Developers typically do not cater to low-income New Yorkers, making it harder for them to find affordable housing and struggle to keep it when they do. According to a recent StreetEasy analysis, New York City’s lowest wage earners have seen their paychecks increase the least since 2010, while apartments priced at the bottom fifth tier of the market have spiked the most.
The report also highlights the latest set of data from the Department of Homeless Services, which reveals that the city’s homeless population is the highest it’s been since the Great Depression. Unless the city prioritizes affordable housing for New Yorkers living near poverty levels, there will continue to be an affordable housing crisis, even with the newly created units, it concludes.
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