ALIGN

An estimated 60,000 New Yorkers were living in homeless shelters as of late 2015, with many members of the working poor unable to access any affordable housing. For the most vulnerable in our city, the affordability crisis has become a full-blown state of emergency.

If de Blasio fails to create truly affordable housing for low-income New Yorkers, he will repeat Bloomberg’s worst mistakes. As of right now, the similarities are painfully stark.

Instead, as this report shows, the city is currently stuck in aTale of One Housing Plan, and it won’t end well for the vast majority of New Yorkers.

Since the beginning of Mayor Bloomberg’s term almost 15 years ago, New York City’s affordable housing developers ran amok, taking advantage of public trust and taxpayer dollars. They did it easily and have no reason to stop. While stagnant wages and rising rents dramatically increased the need for affordable housing, these developers profited from building affordable projects that were not really affordable. In the process, they abused workers, committed wage theft, and got caught up in ethics scandals. Read the full report.

Across the five boroughs, the affordability crisis is growing every day. Today, low- and moderate-income New Yorkers continue to be priced out of their neighborhoods. The incomes of countless New Yorkers are not increasing while rents keep rising. The growing gap between lower incomes and higher rents is making New York City increasingly unaffordable.