NYC financed the most new affordable homes on record this fiscal year

July 30, 2024

Photo courtesy of Joshua Armstrong on Unsplash

New York City has produced a record-breaking number of affordable housing units for back-to-back years, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday. In the fiscal year 2024, the city financed 28,944 affordable and public housing units through new construction and preservation efforts, the highest for any fiscal year. The mayor also touted his administration’s effort to move a record number of homeless New Yorkers into permanent housing, streamline the housing lottery system, and build the most supportive homes and homes for homeless New Yorkers in the city’s history.

The mayor said the city’s Housing Preservation and Development and the Housing Development Corporation financed 26,266 affordable homes in the fiscal year that ended June 30, including 14,706 new construction, about 2,400 more than last fiscal year. Of the new units, 2,155 homes were permanent supportive housing units and 4,085 units were for formerly homeless New Yorkers.

The total number also includes projects that received the 421-a tax break. The Adams administration said it produced 5,401 421-a standalone affordable units and 3,255 permanently affordable inclusionary housing, the most in the city’s history. Other housing production records include doubling the number of homeownership units from the year prior and adding the second-most homes for seniors.

“Over back-to-back years, our administration has faced a housing crisis head-on by building and connecting more New Yorkers than ever to affordable housing,” Adams said. “These record-breaking years are the result of countless city agencies coming together to make sure all New Yorkers — from our formerly homeless to families at the edge of poverty to those just struggling to make ends meet — have access to safe, stable housing.”

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) approved 9,550 households for new housing lotteries, connected 3,990 homeless households with permanently affordable homes, and published a record 315 housing lotteries through Housing Connect. HPD also exceeded its fiscal year 2024 completion target by over 40 percent, delivering 21,159 units of affordable housing.

In fiscal year 2024, New York City achieved its highest-ever production of supportive housing and permanent homes for homeless individuals, increasing the number of homes for the formerly homeless by 15 percent.

The Department of Social Services has connected 16,902 households from shelters to permanent housing, with 12,526 of these households receiving subsidized permanent housing—representing a more than 20 percent increase from fiscal year 2023.

Additionally, NYCHA converted 3,679 apartments to Section 8 housing through the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, implementing $1.35 billion in capital repairs for approximately 7,600 residents.

Since the program’s creation, PACT has converted 21,696 apartments across 87 developments, totaling over $5.68 billion in capital repairs. Currently, 16,155 apartments at 52 developments are in the process of being repaired and upgraded. In total, over 37,851 apartments across 139 developments are either in pre-development, under construction, or have been recently renovated through the PACT program.

“Our housing agencies, with the mayor as our biggest housing champion, have made incredible progress in addressing our housing crisis over the last fiscal year,” Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer said. “From the record amount of affordable new construction and supportive housing, to NYCHA’s work with tenants in developing their communities, this has been an enormous team effort.”

The number of new supportive homes projected to be built as a result of rezonings enacted during the first term of the Adams administration is more than twice the number of new units produced throughout former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 12-year term and more than four times the projection of units produced during former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s eight-year term.

The city is working towards Adams’ “moonshot” goal of creating 500,000 new homes over the next decade. The mayor’s goal depends on the approval of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, which entered public review at the end of April.

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