Statement on Mandatory Inclusionary Housing

The Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, Make the Road New York, and New York Communities for Change are calling on the City Council to withhold support for any Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) proposal that does not guarantee affordable housing that truly meet the needs of our communities.

Community groups and local residents have made it clear that the Mayor’s proposal does not go deep enough, and must be amended to include a “deep affordability option.”

The Administration’s MIH proposal had no deep affordability option, leaving out half of all New Yorkers, and the majority of people in the neighborhoods that are being rezoned.

As reported in Capital New York today, Council members have raised this concern, and the Administration is now considering a new option that would set aside 20% of housing to be affordable at 40% of AMI.

We believe strongly that this rumored new option does not go far enough. Nearly 1/3rd of New Yorkers earn below $30,000 a year and would be excluded by a 40% AMI option. Additionally, ANHD has found that the underwriting of this proposed new option does more to strengthen the developer’s bottom line then it does to increase affordability for neighborhoods.

Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, Make the Road New York, and New York Communities for Change call on the City Council and de Blasio Administration to work together to craft a truly effective deep AMI tier that will allow a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program to meet the needs of working and poor New Yorkers everywhere.