HOUSING NEW YORK 2.0: MAYOR DE BLASIO RELEASES NEW ROAD MAP TO BUILD AND PRESERVE 300,000 AFFORDABLE HOMES

Plan accelerates and expands production, fights tenant displacement, creates more homes for seniors and working families and new homeownership tools

  Mayor Bill de Blasio today released his “Housing New York 2.0” plan laying out new tools and programs to build and preserve affordable homes for 300,000 New York families – up from the previously announced goal of 200,000 homes. Under the accelerated and expanded plan, the City will boost the number of affordable homes for seniors and families to an unprecedented 25,000 per year, while also increasing resources and strategies for affordable homeownership programs and not-for-profit organizations purchasing rent-regulated buildings to preserve affordability. 

Housing New York 2.0 introduces a suite of initiatives that will help create 200,000 affordable homes two years ahead of schedule, by 2022, and reach a new goal of 300,000 homes by 2026. The City’s upgraded housing plan was announced at New Settlement Apartments in the Bronx where nearly 900 affordable homes, across 15 buildings, are being preserved as affordable for another generation of New Yorkers. 

  

“Building on the incredible affordable housing accomplishments of our first term, Housing New York 2.0 commits us to creating 25,000 affordable homes a year and 300,000 homes by 2026. Making New York a fairer city for today and for future generations depends on it,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

  

Housing New York 2.0 requires an additional $150 million a year in the current 4-year financial plan. This will bring the City’s investment in achieving the 100,000 more homes – or 300,000 total homes – to about $1.3 billion per year over the next nine years. Future financial plans will reflect the commitment.

“Housing New York 2.0 sets a new bar, one that reflects the urgency of the needs on the ground, and builds on the incredible progress that has been made over the past several years.  Through innovative new programs and far-reaching policies, we are delivering affordable housing at a clip that hasn't been seen in decades while doing more to protect tenants and ensure the quality and safety of their homes.   Looming threats on the horizon demand that we be more resourceful with underused sites and new technologies; more targeted in preserving the affordability of neighborhoods experiencing rapidly rising rents; and more creative in serving our seniors and expanding opportunities for affordable homeownership.  I want to thank the Mayor, my team at HPD and HDC, and our many partners for helping us build a stronger, more equitable city today and for generations to come,” Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer said.

“This Administration has made remarkable progress towards achieving Mayor de Blasio's vision of a more affordable and equitable New York City.  Building on that momentum, our recalibrated housing plan will deploy critical resources and new initiatives to preserve and create even more affordable housing opportunities for New Yorkers,” said HDC President Eric Enderlin. “I thank the Mayor for his leadership, and I commend our many colleagues in the public and private sectors for their continued partnership as we take Housing New York to the next level.”  

Department of City Planning Executive Director Purnima Kapur said, “Our housing agencies have been indispensable partners as we work with stakeholders in neighborhoods throughout the city to plan for a more equitable and vibrant future with housing for all New Yorkers. Building on the considerable success of the last four years, Housing New York 2.0 is enhancing the toolkit to address the needs of residents today and in the future. From increasing the City’s commitment to preservation in collaboration with local non-profits, to providing pathways to affordable homeownership, to serving our growing senior population, and pioneering new models of affordable housing, the expansion of the housing plan will go even further to help achieve the goals of a more affordable and equitable New York. City Planning is proud to be part of this critical multi-agency effort.”

“New York City is addressing the housing shortage with an unprecedented investment in affordable housing,” said NYCHA Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye. “Under NextGen NYCHA, our long-term strategic plan, we’re proud to play our part in providing seniors with affordable homes through Housing New York 2.0.”

Today’s unveiling of Housing New York 2.0 was made at New Settlement Apartments, which were built during the Koch Administration. With City financing, the buildings are being rehabilitated and affordability will be extended for all 893 apartments for an additional 60 years. System wide upgrades include the installation of solar panels and energy efficient boilers at each building. 

In partnership with the City, the not-for-profit affordable housing developer Settlement Housing Fund also rehabilitated a playground and initiated the new construction of 60 affordable apartments on a once vacant lot within the portfolio. The 11-story building, where families will start moving in as early as next month, creates 60 new homes for households earning between $20,000 and $53,00 a year, as well as for formerly homeless families.

Since Housing New York launched in 2014, the City has financed the creation or preservation of affordable homes for more than 78,000 households across New York City. This puts the City on track to secure more affordable housing in the first four years of the Administration than in any comparable period since 1978.

Under Housing New York, the City has tripled the share of affordable housing for households earning less than $25,000, and doubled funding for housing construction and preservation.

Building on this foundation Housing New York 2.0 will:

• Create more homes for seniors by setting aside underutilized public lots for new affordable senior housing, and make new and preserved affordable housing accessible to seniors and people with disabilities.

• Build a firewall against displacement in fast-changing neighborhoods by helping non-profits purchase as many as 7,500 traditional rent-stabilized apartment buildings and keep them affordable to current residents.

• Protect affordability at Mitchell-Lama buildings, which represent some of the last already existing affordable homeownership opportunities.

• Unlock affordable homeownership to help low- and moderate-income New Yorkers build equity, improve the quality of their homes, and stabilize New York City neighborhoods by financing construction of coops and condos for first-time home buyers and by offering home repair loans. 

• Unlock the potential of vacant lots long considered too small or irregular for traditional housing with innovative smaller homes, and develop more affordable housing on lots long used for parking at existing Mitchell-Lama and federally regulated senior affordable housing complexes.

• Capitalize on advances in technology and innovative design to expand modular building and micro-units that can lower the cost of construction, build new homes faster, and respond to the city’s changing demographics.

MAYOR DE BLASIO DOUBLES PLANNED SENIOR HOUSING TO 30,000 AFFORDABLE HOMES

“Seniors First,” 3^RD initiative of expanded 300,000-home housing plan, will make 15,000 more homes age-friendly,’ build state-of-the-art senior buildings, protect existing senior developments

  Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced “Seniors First,” a slate of new affordable housing programs that will increase the amount of senior housing across the city. In total, the City will double its commitment to senior housing over the extended 12-year Housing New York plan, serving 30,000 senior households by 2026.    

The number of seniors in New York is projected to grow 40 percent by 2040. To meet the housing needs of older New Yorkers on fixed incomes, the City will invest $150 million to make more homes accessible to seniors and people with disabilities; build new 100 percent affordable developments on underused NYCHA, and public and private sites; and preserve aging senior housing built as part of HUD’s 202 program.

As an immediate step, the City will seek proposals for 100-pecent affordable senior buildings totaling 300 new homes on three underused NYCHA sites at Sotomayor, Bushwick II (Group E), and Baruch Houses.

“The federal government has gotten out of the business of building senior housing, so New York City is jumping into it in a big way. We won’t let seniors be pushed out of the neighborhoods they helped build,” said Mayor de Blasio.

Along with the Neighborhood Pillars program and the Mitchell-Lama Reinvestment Program, “Seniors First” is the third new initiative announced as part of the Mayor’s plan to accelerate the creation and preservation of affordable housing across the city by financing 200,000 affordable homes by 2022, and expand that goal to 300,000 affordable homes by 2026 – enough to house the entire population of Boston.

“Seniors First” is needed to address the shortage of affordable housing for low-income seniors, who are the most rent-burdened and more likely to live on fixed-incomes than other New York City populations.

Through a multi-pronged strategy, the City will serve 25,000 senior households—in addition to the 5,000 already reached, through:

15,000 Age-Friendly Homes: The City is making a $150 million new commitment to address the needs of senior residents in buildings preserved over the next eight years. HPD will conduct assessments of the apartments it preserves with residents 62 or older, and make that housing accessible through improvements such as installing lever door handles and shower bars and widening doors to make bathrooms and kitchens wheelchair-friendly. These improvements will ensure seniors can age in place and retain their mobility as they age.

4,000 New Senior Apartments: HPD is committed to developing 4,000 new affordable senior homes through its Senior Affordable Rental Apartments Program. Of the total under the Mayor’s housing plan, about 1,000 will now be constructed on a dedicated pipeline of underused NYCHA land. They will be developed in addition to the existing 10,000 affordable apartments already planned through NextGen NYCHA’s 100% affordable program.

6,000 Senior Apartments Protected: For decades, the federal government built hundreds of senior housing developments across the city through the HUD 202 program. These buildings are privately owned and operated, and many face physical deterioration that threatens their continued affordability. The City will target those properties most in need of protection, making repairs and providing long-term financing in exchange for continued affordability.

“As we accelerate and expand our work through Housing New York, we must put our seniors first. Today, we are doubling our initial commitment to senior housing and introducing a three-fold strategy to deliver on this critical priority. Through a new program to make senior homes more accessible in the buildings we rehab across the city, a targeted focus on protecting the existing stock of senior buildings, and a dedicated pipeline of underused NYCHA land for new affordable senior housing, we are operating on all cylinders to serve the seniors who helped build our great city,” said Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer. “I want to thank the Mayor, NYCHA Chair Shola Olatoye, HDC President Eric Enderlin, and all my colleagues across City government for their partnership to keep our seniors in safe, quality, affordable housing.”