Mayor de Blasio and the City Council are weighing two possible solutions to the affordable housing plan impasse. The Mandatory Inclusionary Housing policy hopes that the private market will subsidize affordable housing construction rather than the government. However in order for this to happen, the City Council must approve the plan.
The plan hopes to help developers in constructing taller buildings with more rentable and sellable units. The caveat is that all extra profits must be used to aid a third of the building’s rentable or saleable units for those in need of affordable apartments. However the City Council noted last week that the proposed prices for the affordable apartments were not low enough. Anticipating this criticism, the administration offered alternative solutions.
“To the extent that there is some consistent feedback that we need to look at different tiers, even within the tiers, I think that we’re open to those discussions,” Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen said at a media roundtable.
Working to meet the varying needs of the city council, city officials noted that to offset even cheaper units, other units would need to rent for higher amounts than the targeted pricing.
Part of the continuing debates in the future will be whether or not this incredibly lower priced unit would be economically viable across the city.