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Professor Kudish English 101

NYC Affordable Housing Situation

In New York City, affordable housing is becoming obsolete because of high rent over the last 20 years. According to “NYC.gov/Housing” , the average monthly rent for an apartment in New York City increased by almost 40 percent since the 1990’s. As a result, many New Yorkers have to spend their hard earned money on paying their rent and bills. This means people are left with a small amount of funds to spend for personal use at the end of each month. This issue affects nearly every middle class and low income neighborhood across the five boroughs of New York City. So, to what extent is the housing situation in New York City sustainable for the future of New Yorkers because many people who live in New York might not be able to afford their home in the next few years and those who intend on moving to New York will have a difficult time finding an affordable place to live. In the article “This Is What An Affordable Housing Crisis Looks Like” by Hamilton Nolan the author states that the typical New York household is forecast to spend sixty-five percent of its total annual income to afford median rent in 2016, up from fifty-eight percent in 2015. In other words, the average New York City household has to face housing costs that are about two-thirds of their income. These household costs include heat, electricity, water, food, clothing, transportation, health care and other costs to be a productive human being in this city. Personally, my family can relate to these issues because my mother works as a mail carrier

for the U.S. Post Office and about a decade ago her salary was enough to purchase more personal things for herself as well as me and my brother but, since our rent has been slowly rising over the past few years. She doesn’t purchase much personal items anymore such as, jewelry, handbags, clothes, shoes, electronics etc. There are things Mayor de Blasio can do to help ,but his promises to reverse thirty-years are quite unlikely based on his progress so far. As the cost of living has skyrocketed for the middle class and poor, those at the very top remain unaffected by the struggle. New York has changed from a place people go to make it, to a place for those who already have made it. Some might think New York is one of the wealthiest and most luxurious cities to live in ,but there are many statistics that say otherwise. For example, one in three Bronx households lives in poverty making it the nation’s poorest urban county and New York also is the nation’s leader in both luxury housing and in homelessness due to affordable housing. According to the “Deblasio administration” and the “New York City Housing Authority” plan on affordable housing. The city aims to create or preserve 200,000 affordable housing units in the next decade. That might seem like enough units to help solve the problem ,but that is not nearly enough because according to the “United States Census Bureau” about a quarter million of people move to New York each year and a little more than one-hundred thousand leave New York.In other words, the population of New York is on a rise and the city would need alot more units for immigrants or people from around the country who intends on moving to New York. Another issue, is the plan is disliked by many people such as, homeowners who are concerned about what it will do to their neighborhood and advocates for the poor complain that it does not go far enough to create housing that the poor can afford. According to “Alec

Roberts of community housing innovations” For decades we’ve been putting all of the affordable housing in high-crime, high-poverty, high-minority areas and he believes it’s wrong. To solve these issues Roberts pointed to towns and villages in Westchester county where the upper-class board trains to New York City every morning for work. He states that local zoning regulations have been designed to preserve upper-class territory and their are dozens of developers who would build plenty of multi-family housing in these areas ,but the government intends on only allowing single-family homes to be built in the county. The federal government is ready to go around the recalcitrant county executive by sending letters to the communities for approval of new apartment projects. So, Westchester county is obligated to build $51 million worth of affordable housing in dominantly white communities ,but federal regulators complain that the process is a slow one. This progress would allow the dreams of working class people who are trapped in their apartment in a rough neighborhood in New York City to move to a suburb out of reach. These people would bring with them the rich racial and ethnic diversity of the city to the suburbs. In fact, Hispanics make up twenty-two percent of the county population, compared to ten percent in 1980 according to the most recent census data. So, people in Queens and parts of Brooklyn who are looking for better and perhaps more affordable housing usual look eastward toward Long Island in either Nassau or Suffolk counties. In the Bronx and northern Manhattan, people head north to Westchester or Rockland. In other words, if more people are moving out of New York, this would leave more housing for incoming immigrants and people around the country. After all, The challenge to create and preserve affordable housing in every New York City neighborhood across the five boroughs is a major issue affecting most New Yorkers. To

solve this issue Mayor de Blasio must create more than 200,000 housing units that are aimed at people who are much less fortunate and state legislatures must work with county executives to reach an agreement that would allow the building of housing complexes in the suburbs of Long Island, Westchester, etc. This would drive more people out of New York in search of affordable housing. New York City population growth is well ahead of recent projections and this growth is showing no signs of slowing down. Ultimately, it is critical for New Yorkers to understand the importance of accommodating the housing needs of our new citizens and the pressure population growth has on our housing....