The New York Housing Conference released a report that shows how the federal AMI for the New York City Metro Area is wildly out of sync with actual incomes in New York City. While there has always been some disconnect between AMI and local incomes, a recent 16 percent increase in AMI over the past year has made the discrepancy particularly stark. The new Median Family Income in the city is $94,500 while the actual median income in New York City is $60,000 and the median income for renters is $50,000. This discrepancy means that HPD programs, which use AMI to set income levels, are unaffordable to low-income New Yorkers.
You can read the NYHC report here.
A companion set of recommendations released by United for Housing calls on the city to better target deeply affordable housing in the housing plan with more housing going to households making $50,000 or less per year and setting a target of 8,000 extremely low income units per year. Mayor Adams’s housing plan did not address affordability levels or make production targets. While we support moving away from an overall production goal, the City should set production targets for lowest income housing. The housing crisis is most acute for the lowest income New Yorkers; while nearly one million New Yorkers are rent burdened, nearly 3/4 of those rent burdened make less than $50,000 per year.
You can read the United for Housing recommendations here.