Fighting for Affordable Housing

About

New Yorkers are increasingly unable to afford to live in their own city. As rents and housing prices rise, our neighborhoods are becoming more segregated, homelessness continues to rise, and people are being pushed out of their communities. There is a significant lack of deep and permanently affordable housing opportunities developed for lower income new Yorkers, and particularly for the nearly 30% of households considered extremely low income. We are all in danger of losing the diverse city we love. 

Why This Matters

While the government acknowledges the affordable housing crisis, local policies and programs too often continue to serve the needs of private developers and the private market over the actual needs of New Yorkers, especially, our lowest income families. Additionally, as we have learned from the current expiring use crisis—we cannot afford to keep losing the affordable housing we develop and preserve; public investment in affordable housing should permanently serve the public interest.

What We're Doing

ANHD is fighting to create fair and affordable housing throughout New York City that prioritizes those most in need and least served by the private market.

We believe New York’s affordable housing policies and investments must be driven by the needs of our people, and not by the real estate industry or private developers. Our work attempts to shift housing resources and policies to focus on the lowest income New Yorkers. 

ANHD’s goal is for all affordable housing developed with public resources to be permanently affordable, avoiding the current time-limited affordability requirements that have left the city scrambling to preserve subsidized housing created in earlier eras with public dollars. We also want deep affordability, which ensures those at the lowest end of the income spectrum have housing opportunities in our city.

Check out the associated projects below for more information on how we are fighting for affordable housing.  

Related Resources

ANHD's 2023 Risk Chart Shows Displacement and Increasing Rents in Communities of Color
Instead of relying on a misleading metric, NYC should build for households that need housing the most.
The AMI Cheat Sheet shows maximum household incomes and rents for three-person households, using 2022 AMI calculations, and estimates the share of renter households and rent-burdened households at each AMI level in New York City.
The AMI Cheat Sheet shows maximum household incomes and rents for three-person households, using 2021 AMI calculations, and estimates the share of renter households and rent-burdened households at each AMI level in New York City.
There has been an astounding decrease in vacancy for New York City’s lowest rent – and most affordable – apartments. At the same time, there has been a staggering jump in vacancy for the City’s highest-rent apartments.
Testimony Before the New York City Council Housing and Buildings Committee Regarding Oversight “Housing Our Neighbors” plan
We are thrilled that after years of ANHD-led advocacy, the Adams Administration has finally moved New York City away from the problematic affordable housing unit count goals of past housing plans....
ANHD's 2022 Risk Chart Shows that Eviction Filings and Other Housing Threats are Concentrated in the Bronx and Communities of Color
The 421-a tax exemption, which has subsidized luxury housing development for decades, is currently set to sunset this year. Governor Hochul’s proposed replacement (485-w) proposal is a sugar-coated...

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