Mayor Bill De Blasio revealed plans to introduce more affordable housing units to New York through a new rezoning policy. The planned new mandate will require developers to include a specific number of a units in their property builds, that will fit the budget of low and moderate income home owners.
The New York city mayor released the details of the project proposal on Friday, July 31, reports Wall Street Journal, which is called "mandatory inclusionary zoning." The program will require developers to build a certain number of affordable housing units, when seeking approval to rezone land for their projects. The proposed program requirements were developed to match the affordable-housing rules that developers must already meet, in order to qualify for a property-tax exemption beginning next year.
The "mandatory inclusionary zoning" program has two options, states The Capital New York. The first will require developers to allot 25 percent of their units as affordable housing options for residents who are earning 60 percent of the area median income. The second option would require 30 percent of the units to be rented out to residents making 80 percent of the area median income. Developers will reportedly have no control over which option to choose, given that this task will be completed by the Department of City Planning and the City Council.
The Capital report further mentioned how De Blasio hoped the program will preserve 200,000 affordable units by 2024 and claimed that 50,000 of those units will be produced via the mandatory inclusionary zoning. The New York mayor also stated that the new mandate will be "mandatory and permanent." De Blasio added, "These are hard, new requirements that for the very first time set a floor for the affordable housing communities are owed in new development. We look forward to working with neighborhoods, elected officials and the Council to enact the strongest affordable housing requirements in the nation."
De Blasio's new affordable housing plan and rezoning mandate is still subject for City Council approval.
