Light Weekend Reading: Furman Center Housing Report

Friday, June 16, 2006, by Jeremy

We have no idea why they'd choose to unload this massive chunk of NYC housing analysis (3.6 MB PDF here) on a Friday in summer, but there it is for you to devour or ignore. The headline finding, according to the Times:

The number of apartments affordable to households earning about $32,000 a year, or 80% of the median household income in the city, has dropped by 205,000 in just three years. ... Whether the rising housing costs are seen as a sign of the city's economic vitality or a harbinger of trouble depends on who is talking.

A little koan for you to ponder this weekend. And by all means, if you tease out any other great data-bites, toss 'em below. The 121-page report (right) is by NYU's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, which manages that exhaustive city planning portal PlanNYC, great for tracking all your pet protest targets.
· Housing Tighter for New Yorkers of Moderate Pay [NYT]
· State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods 2005 [NYU Furman]

Filed under Market Analysis, NYC Codes & Regulations, Neighborhood Reports, Urban Planning,

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Comments (4 extant)

Sadly, this is hardly a surprise. Subsidized units - like Mitchell-Lama - were very successful, but while Bloomberg says that he'll add more affordable housing units, if you dig through enough of the HPD website you can find links for landlords to buy out their M-L units (if that's the right word). The end result = fewer affordable subsidized units. Add in all of the middle-income co-ops that Moses built and that recently became near-market rate units (the co-op board's doing, not the city's) and once again moderate-income people have nowhere to turn than unsubsidized units and with the demand its no longer going to be putting 30% of your paycheck to rent but more like 50%. What the city needs to do is make more subsidized units - clearly the 80-20 and 50-30-20 aren't doing enough.

By T Plans Cities at June 16, 2006 3:20 PM

The 80-20 are a sham subisidy for the wealthy. And I'd bet that the 20 is made up of related to wealthy singles and not by working class families.

By Anonymous at June 16, 2006 3:51 PM

Anonymous - I don't doubt you for a second.

By T Plans Cities at June 16, 2006 5:09 PM

Quoted from the report:
"Midtown has the highest crime rate in the City, though it also has experienced the largest decrease in crime rate (in raw numbers) since 2002. The high rate is partially because crime rates are calculated using the resident population, not including tourists or workers."

Ah, tourist's stolen cameras and executives embezzling. Yay Midtown!

By T Plans Cities at June 16, 2006 5:10 PM