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Q&A
Priorities and proposed reforms for addressing housing affordability
0:55:56
·
90 sec
Council Member Keith Powers and Commissioner Leah Goodridge discuss priorities in addressing housing affordability issues and potential reforms to improve the situation.
- Discussion of income requirements, rents, and apartment sizes as key factors
- Proposal to reform Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) calculations
- Suggestion to base area median income on specific neighborhood incomes rather than including higher-income suburbs
- Explanation of how current AMI calculations lead to affordability issues in low-income neighborhoods
Keith Powers
0:55:56
Is there a part of that equation that you think is the most is a higher priority?
0:56:00
Is it the income requirements, the rents, or the size of the apartments?
0:56:06
Because all three, agree.
0:56:08
I think we are doing a lot of studios.
0:56:10
We are doing a lot.
0:56:11
That seems the way the market is right now.
0:56:13
And I think we all can look at all the above and but I think also sometimes recognize the challenges in these projects trying to figure out the right calibration of it.
0:56:26
Is there a specific part of that that would you note those three things that you feel is the the one that really sticks out the most?
Leah Goodridge
0:56:35
One reform that we can do is to reform MIH.
0:56:39
It is not based on the specific area income, instead it is including income from the suburbs from parts outside of New York City, so that raises the income requirements.
0:56:51
So for example, I grew up in Brownsville and it's a very low income area, but instead of the actual income, they call it area median income of that area, it will be a little bit higher than what is the income for that particular community.
0:57:07
So we end up with an area median income that's higher than most of the New York City neighborhoods in of itself.
0:57:16
So then we're, you know, if we say the area median income is 80 is at 80%, it's still higher than whatever that neighborhood is.
0:57:23
So I think that that's one part that we can look at.