To The Editor:
Wherever I go in our city, people from all walks of life come up to me, literally grabbing me by the arm, all saying the same thing: “I’ve got to talk to you, because I don’t know if I can afford to stay here. I don’t know if I’m going to be priced out of my own city.”
Yesterday, working with the City Council, we won the most progressive, strongest affordable housing requirements in the country—something that means this will remain our city for generations.
We just changed the rules of the game in two major ways.
First — New York City now has the strongest affordable housing requirement for developers of any city in the nation. Our new rules say that developers can only build in newly rezoned neighborhoods if they build affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families.
Second — we made major updates to decades-old land-use rules — rules from a time before anyone could imagine the cost of housing being what it is today. Our new rules have cleared the way to build more senior affordable housing more quickly, because our elders deserve to live in dignity in the communities they helped to build.
These two leaps are critical as we undertake the largest and most ambitious affordable housing program in the history of this country.
Our plan will secure 200,000 affordable apartments by 2024 — enough for half a million people. It’s a plan that delivers for seniors, for people with disabilities, for veterans and for working people of all kinds — from carwash workers to teachers and first responders.
We won’t let people be pushed aside because they can’t afford this city.
We are protecting the city we were meant to be — One New York We ALL Can Live In.
In solidarity,
Mayor Bill de Blasio
