Principle #1:
DEEPER AFFORDABILITY
Under the present version of MIH, a developer could rezone a whole
neighborhood without creating a single unit below 60 percent of AMI.
Amounting to over $50,000 in annual income for a household of four,
60 percent far exceeds what many Black, Latino, and Asian families
can afford. Even if an affordable housing development needs to be at
an average of 60 percent or higher to remain financially feasible, a
developer should be required, at a minimum, to reserve a share of the
affordable units for incomes as low as 30 or 40 percent of AMI. In the
Mayor's plan, there is no requirement at all for deep affordability within
the three options, effectively excluding the poorest New Yorkers.
Principle #2:
MIXED-INCOME HOUSING
A developer who seeks to go higher (in AMI) should be expected to go
deeper (in affordability). An option that allows for a broad mix of
incomeshigher and deepercould achieve three goals at once:
deeper affordability, income diversity, and financial feasibility.
An
option that goes higher without going deepersuch as the 120 percent
AMI "workforce optionwould only serve to exclude the poorest New
Yorkers.
Principle #3:
DISINCENTIVES AGAINST OFF-SITE DEVELOPMENT
Building affordable housing off site perpetuates the tale of two cities
and undermines MIH's stated goal of creating inclusive and integrated
neighborhoods.
A developer seeking an off-site option should be
expected to create either more affordable housing or deeper
affordability. In San Francisco and elsewhere in the nation, MIH
New York City Council Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus 250 Broadway, Room 1818, New York, NY 10007 212-341-9583
BLACaucus@council.nyc.gov
Principle #4:
EQUITY BEYOND AFFORDABILITY
The Mayor should expand the scope of Housing NY, of which MIH is
only one component, to address the serious questions of equity that
have been raised, by elected officials and advocates, about the City's
approach to developing affordable housing. How we develop
affordable housing needs to advance the principles of equity every bit
as much as the housing itself. Housing NY should include a detailed
plan for achieving equity beyond affordable housing with an emphasis
on the following:
1. Local Hiring
2. Labor Standards (Wages, Benefits, Worker Safety, Workforce
Development)
3. MWBEs
4. Infrastructure