Mayor de Blasio, Deputy Mayor Vicki Been and others at ribbon cutting for a new affordable housing development in the Bronx, part of the City’s record year for creating affordable housing citywide. Image Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

The City is on track to create and preserve 200,000 affordable homes by the end of Mayor de Blasio’s administration. On July 26, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Deputy Mayor Vicki Been announced that the City created and preserved 28,310 affordable homes in the 2021 fiscal year.  (more…)

Mayor Bill de Blasio at his August 5 Press Conference Image Credit: Mayor’s Press Office

Mayor’s affordable housing announcement appears more retrospective than optimistic. On August 5, 2020, The Mayor’s Press Office released a statement touting the amount of affordable housing created in fiscal year 2020. The announcement states that the City preserved 23,520 homes and constructed 6,503 new units, totaling 30,023 affordable City financed homes. More than 50 percent of these homes serve families earning less than $52,000 and 3,600 people received voucher increases to ameliorate income lost from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The New NYC Housing Connect Image Credit: HPD

NYC Housing Connect tool intends to make affordable housing searches a more user-friendly experience. On June 16, 2020, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the launch of “NYC Housing Connect,” an online tool for finding and applying for affordable housing. The new system provides upgrades from its predecessor through a collaborative effort by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, user-design experts and collected public feedback.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio. Image credit: CityLand

The conversion is another step in the City’s plan to address the homelessness crisis. On November 19, 2019, the Mayor’s Office announced its transition into the second phase of a plan to convert temporary homeless shelters into permanently affordable housing units. According to the Mayor’s Office, this plan will help not-for-profit housing developers acquire and rehabilitate an additional 14 residential “cluster site” buildings, currently being used to house homeless families, and convert them into over 200 permanent affordable housing units for the homeless. (more…)

Mayor Bill De Blasio. Image Credit: CityLand

New Yorkers applying for affordable apartments now have the choice to avoid credit checks. On August 21, 2019, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Housing Development Corporation announced major changes to Housing Preservation and Development’s affordable housing lottery application. The expanded guidelines will increase access for more New Yorkers to qualify for affordable housing. This change will have an immediate impact for some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers. Besides offering the option to show positive rental history instead of submitting to credit checks, or provide their own credit checks, the new guidelines will also allow for additional occupants per unit. (more…)