Housing, Neighborhoods, and Opportunity: The Location of New York City’s Subsidized Affordable Housing

This presentation was part of the Ignite Showcase at the NNIP May 2015 partners meeting. 

Many property owners in New York City’s higher-opportunity neighborhoods are converting their subsidized properties to market-rate when their affordability restrictions expire. As a result, the city is losing affordable housing in the neighborhoods with the highest quality schools, lowest crime rates, and greatest access to jobs. In a report released in January 2015, the NYU Furman Center’s Moelis Institute for Affordable Housing Policy examines changes in the location and neighborhood characteristics of subsidized rental housing in New York City. The study shows that the distribution of subsidized rental units across New York City’s neighborhoods changed significantly between 2002 and 2011, not just as a result of new development, but also because of differential opt-out rates across neighborhoods. Properties that opted out of all affordability restrictions between 2002 and 2011 were located in higher-amenity—and higher cost—neighborhoods than properties that were preserved during that time. On average, the neighborhoods that lost affordable units commanded asking rents about $400 more per month than rents in neighborhoods where affordable housing was preserved.