Bill de Blasio PUBLIC ADVOCATE FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK Tot Nie FOR AN AFFORDABLE CITY An 8-point plan to increase and protect affordable housing across New York CityFOUNDATION FOR AN AFFORDABLE CITY # APRIL 2013 Office of the Public Advocate for the City of New York 1 Centre Street, 15th Floor. New York, NY 10007 www.advocate.nyc.gov ¢* Tel. (212) 669-7000INTRODUCTION New York City is rapidly becoming a tale of two cities—where the wealthiest New Yorkers enjoy a life of luxury, while working families struggle just to pay the rent. Between 2010 and 2012, the population of New York City increased by nearly 300,000 people.’ Meanwhile, the rate of apartment vacancies in New York City remains the lowest in the nation with just 2.1 percent of rental units available.? This confluence of high demand for housing and low supply has contributed to an 11 percent jump in median rent between 2005 and 2011.2 No other city in the nation has rental levels as high as New York, according to real- estate research firm Reis Inc.4 The housing crisis in New York City can be felt most deeply among low-income — and working class New Yorkers, who have seen more and more of _ their paychecks go to cover monthly rent payments. As rental prices have increased, income levels have remained stagnant or decreased in recent years. Between 2005 and 2011—as median rent levels increased by $1,453/year—the median income in New York City fell by $565. As a result, the average New Yorker saw their net income decrease by more than $2,000. According to the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, nearly half of all New York City residents pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing and about a third of all households spend at least half their income on housing © In 2004, the Bloomberg administration created a 10-year strategy called the New Housing Marketplace Plan (NHMP) to help address the shortage of affordable housing in New York City. Since NHMP’s inception, the City has spent over $750 million per year to create and preserve a total of approximately 125,000 units