OPINION: The economic engine of affordable housing in Brooklyn
From Tilden Gardens to City Point, Brooklynites have always been on the front line of fighting for affordable housing. That fight has taken on greater importance as the borough gets less and less affordable for low- and middle-income families who are struggling to make ends meet.
Fortunately, Brooklyn — and all of New York — just took a huge step forward in addressing the housing crisis as the governor and state Legislature approved $2.5 billion for affordable and supportive housing. With more than half of statewide renters struggling to afford their homes and about 88,000 New Yorkers still homeless, the housing funds could not have come at a more critical time.
The positive impact of these new funds will go well beyond new units of affordable housing — they will also catalyze spending and the creation of good-paying jobs that strengthen communities throughout our city. In fact, New York’s affordable housing industry generated more than $54 billion in total economic impact across the state between 2011 and 2015, as we found in a recently released report. The vast majority of that spending took place within New York City, where more than 83 percent of the state’s subsidized housing — or around 106,000 affordable units — was built and preserved during that five-year period.