Making MIH Truly Affordable

 

As the Administration’s proposal for Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) moves towards a vote, the City Council has taken up their role to modify and improve the final proposal. Community groups know that local residents in low-income neighborhoods are correct to ask the question “Affordable for whom?”, and that some of the promised housing must be guaranteed where the need for housing and the fear of displacement is greatest. For community groups, this has meant a strong call that some of the housing must be guaranteed down to 30% of Area Median Income.

An article in yesterday’s Crain’s New York makes the important point that while the Administration has pushed back against the call for 30% AMI, the Administration’s own Finance and Marketing Study, which set the terms of their MIH proposal, overlooked the need to analyze MIH scenarios that reached below 30% of AMI. ANHD and our community groups believe that an analysis of the deeper affordability scenarios shows that a mix of incomes, including rents levels down to 30% of AMI, can responsibly achieve the development goals of the Administration while at the same time meeting the equity concerns of the community.