Opinion: New York Has A Housing Problem, But It Can Be Solved

“I’ve not only shown dedication to residents of all backgrounds, but I know how to deliver on my promises and make this city better. Every other candidate has a housing plan but lacks the dedicated leadership to make it work.”

The author, former Assemblymember and current candidate for mayor Michael Blake, at City Limits’ Mayoral Forum on NYCHA & Family Homelessness last month. (Photo by Adi Talwar)

Editor’s Note: City Limits will offer similar op-ed space to the other candidates running for NYC mayor this year to share their housing plans. If you’re a candidate interested in submitting a piece, email editor@citylimits.org. Read Candidate Scott Stringer’s housing pitch here.

Every day, more New Yorkers make the tough choice of abandoning the city they call home because it has become a shell of itself, littered with empty buildings that only the rich can afford.

For years, our city officials have allowed rents to skyrocket, the number of affordable units to dwindle, and families to live in apartments the size of shoe boxes. More than 2 million New York residents are spending over half of their paychecks on rent alone, driving more working-class people to compromise on food, childcare and employment decisions. In our schools, approximately one in every eight students experienced homelessness last year.

These issues affect every single New Yorker, including me. As the child of Jamaican immigrants—whose mama overcame homelessness—and a son of the Bronx, I’ve witnessed families of color pushed out of the city in search of affordable housing. As a former White House aide to President Barack Obama, a reverend, husband and father, I’ve seen neighbors struggle to stay afloat, forced to sacrifice more each day to still pay more for their homes. 

While our current leadership has thrown in the towel, and as the only candidate in the race who was part of a team that defeated Donald Trump, we still have a chance to turn things around. Our housing crisis has a solution, and my comprehensive housing plan offers a path for New Yorkers to both find affordable housing and start bringing money back into this city and its neighborhoods.

Barring contractual prohibitions, my administration will—within its first 100 days—pay and reimburse all open city contracts to nonprofits on the front lines of childcare, housing support and job placement. These are the organizations that are fighting to keep working-class New Yorkers in the city. Our current City Hall has denied them the right to timely pay, and they deserve much better for their work.

I will also declare a cost of living emergency and utilize city reserves to provide urgent financial relief to residents struggling to make ends meet. This will help working-class families afford not only rent but groceries, childcare and transportation. To provide further aid to our most vulnerable neighbors, I will create a guaranteed income pilot program to help New Yorkers with housing and childcare expenses.

Right now, New York utilizes an outdated Area Median Income (AMI) formula to calculate the average income of residents within a neighborhood. The city’s sky-high rents skew this data, though, causing units labeled as “affordable” to be the opposite. My administration will replace the use of AMI with a Local Median Income (LMI), specific to neighborhoods and zip codes.

This will not only more accurately capture what local New Yorkers are making but ensure housing affordability is no longer affected by inflated regional averages. I also promise to raise income thresholds for housing eligibility, giving working- and middle-class families better odds of obtaining a home. 

We’ll eliminate credit score considerations from housing applications, which disproportionately prevent communities of color, immigrants and young adults from obtaining affordable units. By promoting alternative tenant evaluation methods, such as income verification and rental history, New York City residents will make housing decisions based on their actual ability to pay instead of their financial pasts.

My administration will also educate landlords and brokers through workshops and technical assistance, as well as monitor compliance with the help of the NYC Commission on Human Rights. This includes requiring landlords to accept the crucial resource of housing vouchers where applicable.

I will launch Mitchell-Lama 2.0, a new housing program focused on deeply affordable, middle-income housing for public sector workers and union members. Under this new plan, the city will build 600,000 new units across the five boroughs to match the number of residents pushed out due to rising costs and housing scarcity. Some of these units will be reserved for returning veterans, recent college graduates and native New Yorkers priced out of their home market. My Welcome Home plan will keep families together and ensure New York does not become a city where only the upper class can build a life.

To help New Yorkers access these resources, I plan to launch Technology for Good, a new public service platform that will connect people to city resources. Available on desktop and mobile devices, the app will allow New York City users to apply for benefits, track housing and repair statuses, check payment timelines, and request constituent services. Amending the convoluted current system that discourages our most vulnerable neighbors from getting the resources they need will provide New Yorkers greater accessibility, ease and transparency.

New Yorkers are constantly gaslit by claims that our city has no money. The reality is that our current administration severely mismanages money. Through my comprehensive economic justice plan, I have devised multiple ways to channel funds back into the city without raising taxes on working-class families.

In 2023 alone our City Hall failed to collect over $2 billion in fines that occurred over the past five years, including $150 million in uncollected property taxes and emergency housing repair bills. Multi-millionaire building owners are currently avoiding their property taxes, putting more pressure on rent-regulated apartments and further gentrifying vulnerable neighborhoods. My administration will work with civic tech partners like Promise Pay to recover these overdue fees and property taxes. My plan would also end the nearly 40-year tax exemption that has benefited Madison Square Garden properties, utilizing that money instead for goods and services benefiting actual working-class families. 

Thousands of luxury buildings sit vacant while the city faces a housing crisis. By amending the city tax code to define qualifying pied-à-terre units and implementing a vacant apartment tax, my administration will implement progressive tax rates based on a property’s value and its time unoccupied. Vacant commercial units are also going to be taxed under this new policy, bringing further money into the city and encouraging business owners to use the space they have purchased. We will enforce this through owner disclosures and cross-checking utility usage, while directing unused funds to housing programs, public housing repairs and rent subsidies.

The top 1 percent of New Yorkers are not contributing their fair share to the public. Under my leadership, city tax brackets for billionaires will be reformed and tax exemption loopholes for the rich will be closed, generating more than $3 billion in revenue. I also project collecting an additional $2 billion from fines and fee collections spawned by repealing tax abatements for luxury co-ops and condominiums priced over $300,000.

I’m aware of how ambitious my plan sounds, but unlike the rest of my mayoral challengers, I have the proven leadership to make these changes happen. As a New York Assembly member of six years and chair of the Mitchell-Lama subcommittee, I addressed people being skipped on waiting lists and provided funding for renovations. Moreover, I led a bipartisan “Prompt Pay” bill that helped local businesses get paid in 15 days instead of 30; spearheaded the creation of the only statewide My Brother’s Keeper program in America; and co-led the Diversity In Medicine scholarships.

I’ve not only shown dedication to residents of all backgrounds, but I know how to deliver on my promises and make this city better. Every other candidate has a housing plan but lacks the dedicated leadership to make it work. 

New York cannot survive under another spineless mayor. Our city needs people who have proven their devotion to all of its residents and have a track record of delivering on innovative policies that work. Without ambitious leadership with comprehensive solutions, we are only going to drive more families away. My plan does not merely offer a solution, it promises one.

New Yorkers deserve better than we’re getting. We deserve change and a new generation of leadership, and I’m ready to be your mayor. 

Michael Blake is a former member of the New York State Assembly and a former Obama administration staffer. He is currently running in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City.

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