Posted on December 12, 2019 by Nikita Stewart, Jeffery C. Mays and Matthew Haag in The New York Times The New York Times, By Nikita Stewart, Jeffery C. Mays and Matthew Haag A law would mandate that affordable-housing projects built with city assistance must have 15 percent of the apartments reserved for the homeless. As New York City grapples with record numbers of homeless people, Mayor Bill de Blasio has faced deepening criticism that his plan to create more affordable housing, a signature effort of his administration, has done little to help people move from shelters into stable homes. In an effort to address the shortfall, city officials have agreed to force developers of designated affordable-housing projects to set aside 15 percent of the units for the homeless. The requirement will be the centerpiece of a bill that the City Council is expected to pass next week, and represents one of the city’s most ambitious effort in a decade to address the dearth of housing for homeless people. The legislation, which applies to rental buildings with more than 40 units, would add roughly 1,000 new apartments for the homeless a year, almost doubling the 1,300 apartments that are currently under development. Many other cities require these so-called set-asides for the lowest-income households. Boston, for instance, requires that city-funded developments with at least 10 rental units reserve 10 percent for homeless families. But there does not appear to be another mandate on the scale proposed under the legislation in New York. The measure pending before the City Council is the culmination of a long effort to push Mr. de Blasio to redraw his housing plan to address a homeless crisis that has shown no signs of abating. About 79,000 people now live in New York’s shelters or streets, up from about 64,000 people the year before Mr. de Blasio took office.
