Affordable Housing: Brooklyn Beats Other Boroughs, But Not Enough to Meet Demand

Brooklyn created more affordable units in the 2015 fiscal year than any other New York borough, with 3,069 newly built apartments and another 3,846 retained, according to amNewYork.

It’s a powerful step in the right direction, but we should remember that this number is nowhere near enough to meet the demand for affordable housing in the city. Nearly 60,000 people applied for units in a single Greenpoint building last year. And, as Brownstoner wrote just last week, the city’s anticipated building boom won’t make Brooklyn more affordable.

Mayor Bill de Blasio aims to create or preserve a total 200,000 affordable apartments in New York by 2025. Some of the new construction will be the result of his “mandatory inclusionary zoning” plan — obliging developers to build affordable housing in rezoned areas or in exchange for exceptions to zoning requirements.

Today, three neighborhoods — Prospect Heights, Downtown Brooklyn and Greenpoint — are home to 75 percent of Brooklyn’s newest affordable housing stock. Pacific Park/Atlantic Yards is the single project anticipated to produce the most affordable units in the coming year. When finished, more than a third of Pacific Park’s 6,500 new apartments are slated to be affordable.

Brooklyn Leads City Boom of New Affordable Housing Units [amNY]
Brooklyn May Get 22,000 New Apartments by 2019, But It Won’t Get More Affordable [Brownstoner]
De Blasio Zoning Plan Will Bring Mucho Affordable Housing to Brooklyn Mega Projects [Brownstoner]
Map via amNY