New York City's housing plan wins Harvard Innovation Award

According to mayor Michael Bloomberg, the New Housing Marketplace Plan, the city's $7.5 billion plan to build and preserve affordable housing for 500,000 New Yorkers, has funded more than 82,500 units-half of its 165,000 goal. Initiated in July 2003 as a 65,000 unit plan, the New Housing Marketplace Plan was more than doubled in February 2006 and is now one of the largest municipal affordable housing plans in the nation. To sustain the plan's 165,000-unit goal despite the increasing pressure on the national housing market, the city developed an array of new financing tools, including the New York City Acquisition Fund-this year's recipient of Harvard University's Ash Institute Award for Innovation in Government. The mayor unveiled the milestone at the groundbreaking ceremony for La Casa de la Luna y de la Estrella and the celebration of the opening of La Casa del Sol, two developments in the Morrisania section of the Bronx financed through the housing plan. "Since 2002, we have worked and invested to make New York City's five boroughs better places to live and to raise families, and as a result, our city continues to grow," said mayor Bloomberg. A broad range of affordable housing opportunities have been created in all five boroughs under the new plan, including new construction and preservation of rental and home-ownership units for low, moderate and middle-income households. Of the more than 82,500 units funded to date, approx. 30% are for homeownership. In addition, 75% are affordable to low-income households, surpassing the plan's initial goal of 68%. Nearly 40,000 of the units funded to date were financed by HDC, well ahead of schedule of its initial commitment to finance 42,000 units over the life of the plan. Over the course of the last three years, HDC has issued more than $4 billion in bonds, ranking HDC as one of the nation's largest multifamily bond issuance entities during that period. Many of the developers interested in creating affordable housing are not-for-profit organizations and small for-profit developers that typically do not have the financial resources to compete to acquire property in the private market. The New York City Acquisition Fund-a collaboration among ten national philanthropies, leading financial institutions and the city-levels the playing field for developers seeking to acquire property prior to assembly of a project's permanent financing. The fund was created as part of an overall effort to help address the increasingly difficult fiscal environment and sustain the 165,000 goal. In 2003, the city rezoned the Morrisania area of the Bronx to increase housing supply and encourage economic development opportunities in an area that had experienced disinvestment in past decades. Since the rezoning was approved, the city has financed nearly 900 units of affordable housing, including the Las Casas units, within the community, none of which could have been achieved without the rezoning. Through the mayor's housing plan, the city has funded more than 27,000 affordable housing units throughout the Bronx.