Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

Imagining affordable housing in New York

Noel King Apr 23, 2015
HTML EMBED:
COPY
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at an event promoting transportation infrastructure aboard the subway earlier this month. Michael Appleton - Pool/Getty Images

Imagining affordable housing in New York

Noel King Apr 23, 2015
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at an event promoting transportation infrastructure aboard the subway earlier this month. Michael Appleton - Pool/Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
COPY

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to build or preserve 200,000 affordable housing units over the next decade. And not a moment too soon. An estimated half of New York renters lack affordable housing, meaning they spend more than a third of their salaries on rent. That may be as many as 1 million people.

In unveiling his OneNYC plan this week, de Blasio said he’ll attempt to lift 800,000 New Yorkers out of poverty.

His office called it one of the largest urban poverty initiatives in U.S. history, and affordable housing is likely to be one of the major proposals.

De Blasio has also called for the creation of 160,000 units of market-rate housing over the next decade, an acknowledgement, some say, that all New Yorkers are affected by a housing shortage.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.