The New York Housing Conference (NYHC) updated the NYC Housing Tracker and released the 2023 NYC Housing Tracker Report, adding data on housing production in 2022 – the first full year of Mayor Eric Adams’s administration. It also includes new City Council district data on the number of housing units with expiring affordability. The tracker now also includes citywide housing and homelessness statistics to hold Mayor Adams accountable, including total affordable housing production, housing capital spending, key stats on people experiencing homelessness, and data on the New York City Housing Authority.
The NYC Housing Tracker monitors affordable housing production data in New York City by City Council district. In 2022, the city produced just 14,766 units of affordable housing, including construction of new housing and preservation of existing housing. This is a 48 percent decrease from the average over the previous five years, which was 28,387 units.
The data shows that the preservation of affordable housing decreased more than new construction. In 2022, the city produced 8,935 units of affordable housing through new construction, 7 percent less than the average over the previous five years (9,606 units), while HPD preserved just 5,831 units of affordable housing in 2022, 69% less than the average over the previous five years, when the city preserved 18,780 units per year on average. The decrease in production can be attributed to staffing shortages that began before Mayor Adams took office.
Updated Tracker data shows that affordable housing production continues to be unequally spread across the city. Between 2014 and 2022, 16 districts produced more than 2,000 units of new affordable housing – mostly in neighborhoods in the South Bronx, Central Brooklyn, East River waterfront in Brooklyn and Queens, and Southeast Queens. Meanwhile, 17 districts produced fewer than 400 units over that time, with nine of those producing less than 200 units over the nine years.
The data also shows the need for state legislative action. Robust affordable housing construction in high-cost neighborhoods in districts 33 and 26, along the waterfronts in Brooklyn and Queens, came from the 421a tax benefit program and the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. Without a tax benefit to support rental housing construction, affordable housing will get built exclusively in low-income neighborhoods.
In addition, the governor and state legislature are considering legislation that would allow the city to preserve affordable housing. The J-51 program expired last year, and new legislation to renew and modify the program has passed the state Senate and Assembly. The Housing Affordability, Resiliency, and Energy Efficiency Investment Act (HAREEIA) would update the city’s loan authority, allowing among other things HPD to make larger loans and longer loan terms to preserve affordable housing. HAREEIA passed the state Senate.
“NYC’s steep decline in affordable housing production is alarming, especially at a time when New Yorkers are feeling the impact of the housing shortage with rising rents and evictions,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference. “While the City Council has approved several important housing projects this past year, many neighborhoods are still not doing enough to support housing growth. In addition, the data shows how the state legislature and governor need to move legislation that would give the city the tools it needs to build and preserve affordable housing through updated loan authority, tax incentives and regulatory support for office and basement conversions.”
To see the tracker, please visit here. To see the full report, visit here.