Despite the temporary loss of the 421-a tax abatement, 2016 managed to be a pretty good year for affordable housing in NYC.
The city was able to either build or preserve nearly 22,000 units — the most in any calendar year since 1989. A grand total of 6,844 of those units were in brand-new buildings, the New York Times reports.
It’s welcome news for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, which has made a central issue of the need to help make the city affordable for low- and middle-income residents since before the mayor took office in 2014. The administration has pledged to build or preserve 200,000 affordable units over the next decade.
The administration is showing signs that it means business in meeting that lofty goal. Over the past three years, money earmarked for capital funding the city’s housing agency has doubled to $798M from $400M in 2014. [NYT]
