Early this week New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his highly anticipated affordable housing plan entitled, “Housing New York: A Five-Borough, Ten-Year Plan”. The comprehensive plan spans over a decade and the total impact will be $41 Billion to preserve over 200,000 affordable units and build new affordable housing units throughout the city. The Plan establishes over 50 different initiatives and goals.

Some of the key policies and programs are:

  • Build New Affordable Housing for all New Yorkers: The city will allocate additional resources to increase the number of units to serve the lowest income New Yorkers. Additionally, the creation of two new programs, Neighborhood Construction Program (NCP) and the New In?ll Homeownership Opportunities Program (NIHOP), will aggregate smaller sites for the development of homeownership and rental affordable housing. Additionally, the city will launch pilot mixed income programs to target a broader range of AMI households.
  • Preserving Affordability and Quality of the Existing Housing Stock: The city will work with local and state agencies to standardize and simplify its preservation programs.  They intend to develop new tax incentives and to proactively work with owners, lenders, and investors to assure that City resources are appropriately targeted. Additionally, they city will launch a new program to incentivize energy efficiency retrofits for small and mid-sized buildings.
  • Foster Diverse, Livable Neighborhoods: The city will identify areas that can support new affordable developments and provide new opportunities. Additionally, the city will implement a new mandatory inclusionary housing program.
  • Promote Homeless, Senior, Supportive and Accessible Housing: The city will pilot programs to relocate shelter funding to finance lower-cost permanent housing for homeless New Yorkers. Additionally, the city will develop more supportive housing to improve health outcomes.

As de Blasio wrote in his statement: “If you are a building owner or developer intent on building or preserving affordable apartments, we will support you.” Overall, the plan looks promising for New York City developers and will provide significant amount of development opportunities.

Click here to read the full New York City Affordable Housing Plan.