NYC Affordable Housing Plan Ahead of Schedule

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s NYC affordable housing plan is ahead of schedule, city officials announced this week. The $8.5 billion NYC New Housing Marketplace Plan, as it’s officially known, was launched in 2004 to put into motion a promise made during the Mayor’s reelection campaign, in which the city would create or preserve 165,000 apartment units across the five boroughs, providing 500,000 people a decent, affordable place to live. “That’s more people,” the Mayor likes to point out, “than live in the city of Miami.”

The city has so far funded the construction or rehabilitation of nearly 125,000 affordable housing units city-wide, and are now about three-quarters of the way to their 2014 goal. The announcement was made at a Bronx housing project, West Farms Square, a 526-unit complex that was distressed until the city rehabilitated the property, installing new bathrooms, kitchens, floors, appliances, and fresh coats of paint in apartments that, in many cases, were in terrible shape. The New Housing Marketplace Plan also installed new boilers, facades, and flooring in common areas in the housing project, as it has done in similar buildings all over town.

The NYC affordable housing apartment plan doesn’t affect the NYC rental market as whole, because these units are designated for residents who meet income requirements. But, of course, the fact that New York City is willing and able to provide decent, affordable housing to half a million of a citizens, even through the housing crisis, reflects well upon the city as a whole, and bodes well for the future.

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