Bill de Blasio,
New York City
While some mayors never utter the words “affordable housing,” Bill de Blasio shouts them from the rooftops.
“If we do not act—and act boldly—New York risks taking on the qualities of a gated community … A place defined by exclusivity, rather than opportunity. And we cannot let that happen,” said de Blasio in his State of the City address in February.
Overall, 56% of rental households in New York spent more than 30% of their income on housing last year—up 10 points in a little more than a decade.
In response, de Blasio has called for the construction of 80,000 new affordable housing units by 2024, which he calculates would mean building at twice the average annual rate of the past 25 years. In addition, he wants to preserve another 120,000 affordable units and build 160,000 market-rate units. To expedite this activity, de Blasio is ready to rewrite the rules, including adopting a mandatory inclusionary zoning policy.
It’s too soon to tell if the mayor will reach his lofty goals, but he’s already raised the level of conversation about the growing need for affordable housing in the nation’s biggest and brashest city.
The mayor is still new to the job, taking office in 2014. However, his exuberance isn’t the kind of a new convert. Earlier in his career, he served as a regional director for the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton years.
“This administration is taking a fundamentally different approach—one
that not only recognizes the need for more affordable housing … but demands
it,” de Blasio told the city in February.
