New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Monday said the city will invest $24.7 billion into a host of affordable housing, supportive housing and tenant protection initiatives.
The mayor said $1 billion would be committed to the "City of Yes" Housing Opportunity initiative; $350 million to preserve affordable housing and public housing units; $46 million to supportive housing initiative; and money for tenant protection and legal services and more.
“The sweeping investments we are announcing today as part of the ‘Best Budget Ever’ will help so many New Yorkers, from vulnerable people living on our subways to families searching for their first home, and create a safer, more affordable city for the decades to come," the mayor said.
The $1 billion in new funding will support the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD) and New York City Housing Authority’s core capital programs that build new homes, preserve existing homes, deliver capital repairs and more.
There will be $350 million to renovate thousands of units in New York City Housing Authority complexes, as well as an overhaul of the 15/15 Supportive Housing Initiative, which supports individuals with serious mental illness, substance use challenges or complex traumas.
First launched in 2015, 15/15 set an ambitious goal of financing 15,000 new units of supportive housing that offer New Yorkers both affordable housing and social services; this target was originally split between congregate units that provide housing and supportive services together at the same location and scattered site units that provide private market housing and supportive services at separate locations. While the city has exceeded its target for awarding new congregate units, it has nonetheless faced long-term challenges meeting its target for scattered site units.
The city will shift the focus of the program to producing more congregate units. Adams said the city will invest an additional $46 million in expense funding over several fiscal years to finance 5,850 congregate units and help thousands of individuals connect to permanent housing from the streets and from shelters. About 80% of those units are projected to be newly-constructed supportive units and 20% percent are expected to be preserved units.
“The re-allocation of funding from the 2016 NYC 15/15 supportive housing initiative is a significant victory for tenants and providers alike and will ensure the creation and preservation of desperately needed units at a deeply uncertain time," said Pascale Leone, executive director of the Supportive Housing Network of New York.
The city will also establish a Tenant Protection Cabinet to develop policies and long-term strategies to support tenants; expand the Partners in Preservation Program to the entire city in 2024 through a nearly $24 million investment in local organizations that support tenant organizing and combat harassment in rent-regulated housing; and expand the Homeowner Help Desk, which provides low-income homeowners with financial and legal counseling, to the entire city.
