The first of the de Blasio administration’s neighborhood rezonings was unveiled at the end of September with the East New York plan: an ambitious document that includes mandatory affordable housing, new parks, bike lanes, and a 1,000-seat school. While the Department of City Planning (DCP) claims that 50 percent of housing built over the next 15 years under the new rules will be affordable to local residents, activists and neighborhood groups remain wary about the plan.
Real Affordability for All, a coalition of unions and tenant groups, have criticized the plan, arguing that the new apartments will be out of reach for many local residents. At the time of the rezoning, the group released a report critiquing the de Blasio housing plan, arguing that “mandatory inclusionary zoning is an insufficient response to the scope and severity of the affordability crisis. Density can be used in a better way to incentivize more deeply affordable housing and to build it with career-oriented construction jobs for residents.”
Meanwhile, the Coalition for Community Advancement released an alternative plan for East New York that outlines a community-centered approach to achieving a “Neighborhood of Opportunity, where increased density results in increased affordability, living wage jobs, improved infrastructure, and essential amenities.”
