Our housing system is broken. Despite billions invested in tax incentives and privately managed housing programs, working families still can’t afford to live in New York, and are leaving in droves. Yet it was not always like this. During the 20th century, New York pioneered massive investments in social housing, providing homes for hundreds of thousands of people. Now it’s time to do it again.
What is Social Housing?
The state finaces, developes, builds (or purchases), and owns social housing. It is permanently affordable and protected from market fluxuations, which ultimately helps slow gentrification and displacement. Social housing can include publicly owned housing (like the New York Housing Authority a.k.a. NYCHA), limited-equity cooperatives, and community land trusts.
Past social housing models have served millions of people, often targeting the lowest incomes. But declines in federal funding left many of these developments struggling financially. Other models create economically integrated communities that are collectively owned and controlled. In other words, social housing can be universal, serving everyone from the upper-middle class to those with no income, from the young working-class to seniors on Social Security. Because everyone benefits, the projects are politically secure and financially sustainable.
This structure might feel like a radical departure from our current system, but social housing already exists in many European and Asian countries, and in Latin America and Canada. Our mission is to bring this successful model to New York State.
via Wikimedia Commons
via Flickr
How do we bring social housing to New York?
In 2024, New York State Assemblymember Emily Gallagher and Senator Cordell Cleare introduced a new law (A6265/S5674) that would create a Social Housing Development Authority (SHDA) for New York State. The SHDA will create affordable housing statewide by building new apartments and renovating old ones. Goals of the SHDA are to:
- Increase the number of apartments on the market
- Decrease rent paid by tenants
- Build sustainably using union labor
- “Fast-track” permanently affordable homes, while still working with local communities
- Curb rent hikes and greedy landlords
- Slow gentrification and displacement
The SHDA will build or preserve:
- Publicly owned rental apartments — private landlords involved;
- Publicly stewarded rental or owned homes like mutual housing or community land trusts (SHDA would partner with these local housing organizations made up of tenants and other stakeholders);
- Cooperatives where tenants have control, like those created by the Mitchell-Lama program. Co-Op City and Penn South are two good existing examples, wherein households own their own units.
Who would live in social housing?
Housing built by the SHDA would be for everyone: the bill designs housing to be affordable for working-class New Yorkers from the get-go: for teachers, nurses, social workers, public sector employees, construction workers, grocery store cashiers, and more! SHDA will give zero-, low- and middle-income people and families a seat at the table, too. Here’s how it would look in practice:
- 25% of the units would be reserved for low-income households — that is, people earning 30% or less of the area’s median income. (For a family of three, that would be <$43,740 in NYC and <$27,960 in Syracuse)
- 10% of these units would be reserved for low-income households with senior members
- 42% of the units would be reserved for moderate-income households, or people making 80% or less of the area median income (for a family of three, that would be <$116,640 in NYC and <$74,550 in Syracuse)
- People with any income could make up no more than one-third of SHDA units
Rent in SHDA units would start at 25% of an individual’s income, and would be rent-stabilized after that. That means that even if your rent is market rate when you move in, it would become increasingly affordable over time — your rent wouldn’t go up just because you started earning more money later on.
What makes social housing and the SHDA unique?
Permanently Affordable Housing
At least 25% of homes held in trust by the SHDA would be affordable to very-low and no-income households. Unlike housing built with tax incentives like LIHTC, wherein affordability and tenant protections expire after 30 years, this housing would stay permanently affordable, allowing tenants to put down roots or to stay in the communities they already live in.
By Workers, For Workers
The SHDA will build, preserve, and manage housing by paying union wages.
Democratically Run
All social housing communities will have an elected body that represents them, choosing who manages their building(s) and advising SHDA on needed improvements to their homes. Residents will also have seats on the SHDA board — alongside labor unions and affordable housing advocates and practitioners.
Climate Resilient
In collaboration with other public agencies, the SHDA will focus on building and upgrading developments to be fully carbon-neutral, ensuring the creation of sustainable and healthy homes.
Adaptable to Local Needs
The SHDA will be responsive to local conditions and the housing needs of every community. This could look like rehabilitating deteriorating housing in upstate cities or building new housing to protect communities from displacement in rapidly gentrifying areas of New York City.
How will we pay for it?
To build affordable housing currently, New York relies on a patchwork of state and federal programs, governmental agencies, zoning incentives, and private developers and landlords (who actually develop and operate the affordable units). The private housing market has failed to build affordable housing at scale throughout New York. Despite various programs, subsidies, and incentives, unaffordability and homelessness continue to ravage our state. The SHDA is a common-sense solution that takes proven steps to streamline our housing system and put tenants first.
The SHDA would start with $5 billion* to fund its projects. This money could come from:
- A bond approved by voters like you;
- Money from the state budget from taxes like those in the Invest in our New York platform;
- Bonds floated by Empire State Development Authority or other bond-issuing agencies
*$5 billion might sound like a lot of money, but as a point of comparison, the state’s last 5-year housing plan was ~$25 billion. Meanwhile, the NYPD’s current operating budget is $5.8 billion per year.
This initial capital would establish a revolving fund for the SHDA, similar to successful models started in Montgomery County, Maryland, and recently in New York. As residents pay rent, that revenue — which would normally become real estate profits — will instead replenish the fund. This creates a self-sustaining financial engine that can last for decades, with the amount of housing the SHDA creates each year growing with ongoing local and state investments.
The funds invested would go entirely toward building and maintaining the housing; none of it would go into the pockets of private investors. Because the SHDA would serve the entire state, projects could be cross-subsidized. Most importantly, because social housing would be available to New Yorkers of mixed incomes, revenues from some projects can support others in areas where construction is more expensive or residents have lower incomes.
What does social housing look like in other countries?
Social housing isn’t a new concept. It’s already working successfully around the world. Here are a couple of examples to take inspiration from:
Vienna, Austria
- Social housing constitutes 40% of the city’s rental units
- The majority of renters live in social housing units
- Vienna adds around 5,000 new units to supply every year
- On average, rents are 27% lower than the private market counterparts
Paris, France
- As of January 2024, social housing constituted 23.1% of main residences in Paris
- The city has built or renovated more than 82,000 apartments over the past three decades
- Paris aims to add around 4,000 new units every year
- Paris’s goal is to have 30 percent public housing for low-income residents and 10 percent for middle-income residents by 2035
Barcelona, Spain
- Over the past decade, Barcelona has been buying vacant apartments and converting them to social housing. The city’s social housing stock now sits at around 12,300 homes.
- Municipal organizations have run social housing architectural competitions, encouraging the construction of creatively designed and beautiful buildings.
- Barcelona also facilitates cohousing, where the city or a private owner provides land for a cooperative to build and occupy for up to a century. Their payments are often 40% lower than the city’s average rents.
Who supports the SHDA bill?
The SHDA is endorsed by:
- Housing Justice for All & its member organizations
- New York Working Families Party
- Building Construction Trades Council
- New York City District Council of Carpenters
- United Federation of Teachers
- UAW Region 9A
- Democratic Socialists of America New York City, Mid-Hudson Valley, Ithaca, and Long Island chapters
- Mason Tenders’ District Council of Greater New York & Long Island
If your organization has endorsed or is considering endorsing the Permanently Affordable Social Housing for New Yorkers (PASNY) Act, please fill out this form and we will be in touch.
How can I help pass the SHDA bill?
House the Future is looking for onboarders, organizers, administrative support, and more to help make social housing a reality in New York state. Sign up for our newsletter and volunteer form and get involved with the House the Future campaign today!