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Your odds of snagging an affordable housing unit in New York currently sit at about 1,000 to 1, according to city officials, a sobering figure that shows just how bad New York City’s ongoing affordable housing crisis has gotten.
Housing commissioner Vicki Been told attendees at a City Council budget hearing this week 2.5 million applications were submitted for one of the 2,628 affordable units that became available this year through the city’s Housing Connect website lottery, the New York Post reports.
Compare that to 2013, when 364,000 applications were filed for roughly 2,300 units, giving final odds of about 150 to 1. The Housing Connect lottery doesn’t include units that are reserved for the formerly homeless, seniors and supportive housing.
Demand for affordable housing units has surged in major cities over the past few years, and Mayor Bill de Blasio was elected in large part on a campaign promise to help ease that pain.
A recently passed citywide zoning law is aimed at fixing the problem, but critics say it won't have any teeth until the 421-a tax abatement or something similar is put back into effect. [NYP]
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