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

A breakdown of the problems with the 421a Tax Break for housing developers – and recommended solutions.
An analysis of the 421a Developer’s Tax Break including a community-by-community analysis of all the properties that received this tax break in 2013.
A first-ever community-by-community look to determine where the 421a tax breaks have been awarded.
ANHD examines the 421a Developer’s Tax Break including a community-by-community analysis of all the properties that received this tax break in FY 2013.  
An annual city-wide analysis of key threats to affordable housing broken down by neighborhood
There are three primary mechanisms for financing the building affordable housing in New York City. Each of these mechanisms creates either a financial benefit or financial relief in exchange for the...
A five part blog series analyzing Housing New York, the Mayor’s new ten-year plan for affordable housing development, chapter-by-chapter.
An analysis of the potential impact of replacing the City's Voluntary Inclusionary Zoning policy with a new Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning Policy
An analysis of prior losses, and potential gains of affordable housing for Brooklyn’s CB 7.

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