Who's Left Out of New York City's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Plan?
One of the biggest initiatives of Mayor Bill De Blasio's progressive administration is to stem the tide of unaffordable housing and families losing their housing due to affordability. As of March 22, City Council has approved the mayor's mandatory inclusionary housing program that will require a larger share of new housing to be affordable. 'Option 1,' specifically is the most prevalent feature, requiring a minimum of 10% of new housing to be affordable at 40% of the city's adjusted median income, or AMI ($31,080 for a household of three).
Unfortunately, many of the city's residents cannot even reach that level. My partners, Adam Shrier and Doha Madani researched the income levels for every community district and public use microdata area (PUMA) to see how many residents make under 40% of the city's AMI. It turns out nearly 1 million of New York City's 8 million residents fall below that level, mostly in the South Bronx, East Harlem, and East Brooklyn. Check out our interactive map and more analysis by clicking here.