New York City Budget Would Produce Fewer Affordable Homes, Critics Say

New York City is set to finance fewer affordable homes in the coming year, according to an analysis released this week, alarming politicians and housing advocates who worry the city is not doing enough to fight its worsening housing crisis.

They say the Adams administration should be investing much more in affordable housing as rents rise and the city struggles to shelter homeless people. An influx of migrants has made the crisis worse.

“We think it’s really critical that the mayor invest and really meet the moment,” said Rachel Fee, the executive director of the New York Housing Conference, a nonprofit group that represents the affordable housing industry.

The analysis of the city’s housing plans by the Housing Conference was released earlier this week. It estimated that a $2.1 billion capital budget for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development would finance about 10,000 affordable homes in the next fiscal year, which begins in July.

That includes new homes and preserving older affordable homes. The total would be approximately 30 percent less than the average over the past six years from 2018 to 2023, according to the Housing Conference’s analysis.

The group also pointed out that the housing funding in next year’s capital budget is about 20 percent lower than the current fiscal year, which ends in June.