T HE N EW Y ORK C ITY C OUNCIL

BLACK, LATINO, AND ASIAN

CAUCUS
ROBERT CORNEGY, JR. CoChair
36TH District - Brooklyn
212-788-7354
MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO
Council Speaker
8TH District - Manhattan &
Bronx
INEZ D. BARRON
Co-Vice Chair
42ND District - Brooklyn
MARGARET S. CHIN
Co-Vice Chair
1ST District - Manhattan
VANESSA L. GIBSON
Secretary
16TH District - Bronx
JULISSA FERRERASCOPELAND
Treasurer
21ST District - Queens
FERNANDO CABRERA
Ex Officio Past Chair
14TH District - Bronx
ANDY KING
Ex Officio Past Chair
12TH District - Bronx
ROSIE MENDEZ
Ex Officio Past Chair
2ND District - Manhattan
LAURIE CUMBO
35TH District - Brooklyn
INEZ E. DICKENS
9TH District - Manhattan
RAFAEL ESPINAL
37TH District - Brooklyn
MATHIEU EUGENE
40TH District - Brooklyn
PETER KOO
20TH District - Queens
DARLENE MEALY
41ST District - Brooklyn
CARLOS MENCHACA
38TH District - Brooklyn
I. DANEEK MILLER
27TH District - Queens
ANNABEL PALMA
18TH District - Bronx
ANTONIO REYNOSO
34TH District - Brooklyn
DONOVAN RICHARDS
31ST District - Queens
YDANIS RODRIGUEZ
10TH District - Manhattan
DEBORAH ROSE
49TH District - Staten Island
RUBEN WILLS
28TH District - Queens
JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS
45TH District - Brooklyn

RITCHIE TORRES Co-Chair

15TH District - Bronx
212-788-6966

STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES ON MANDATORY INCLUSIONARY

HOUSING
We, the members of the BLAC, resolve that the City Council should
modify the Mayor's proposal for Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH)
to reflect the following principles of equity:

Principle #1:
DEEPER AFFORDABILITY
Under the present version of MIH, a developer could rezone a whole
neighborhood without creating a single unit below 60 percent of AMI.
Amounting to over $50,000 in annual income for a household of four,
60 percent far exceeds what many Black, Latino, and Asian families
can afford. Even if an affordable housing development needs to be at
an average of 60 percent or higher to remain financially feasible, a
developer should be required, at a minimum, to reserve a share of the
affordable units for incomes as low as 30 or 40 percent of AMI. In the
Mayor's plan, there is no requirement at all for deep affordability within
the three options, effectively excluding the poorest New Yorkers.

Principle #2:
MIXED-INCOME HOUSING
A developer who seeks to go higher (in AMI) should be expected to go
deeper (in affordability). An option that allows for a broad mix of
incomeshigher and deepercould achieve three goals at once:
deeper affordability, income diversity, and financial feasibility.
An
option that goes higher without going deepersuch as the 120 percent
AMI "workforce optionwould only serve to exclude the poorest New
Yorkers.

Principle #3:
DISINCENTIVES AGAINST OFF-SITE DEVELOPMENT
Building affordable housing off site perpetuates the tale of two cities
and undermines MIH's stated goal of creating inclusive and integrated
neighborhoods.
A developer seeking an off-site option should be
expected to create either more affordable housing or deeper
affordability. In San Francisco and elsewhere in the nation, MIH

New York City Council Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus 250 Broadway, Room 1818, New York, NY 10007 212-341-9583
BLACaucus@council.nyc.gov

XUSANA R. DAVIS, ESQ.

Director of BLAC Affairs

contains a disincentive against off-site development. NYC's version

should do the same.

Principle #4:
EQUITY BEYOND AFFORDABILITY
The Mayor should expand the scope of Housing NY, of which MIH is
only one component, to address the serious questions of equity that
have been raised, by elected officials and advocates, about the City's
approach to developing affordable housing. How we develop
affordable housing needs to advance the principles of equity every bit
as much as the housing itself. Housing NY should include a detailed
plan for achieving equity beyond affordable housing with an emphasis
on the following:
1. Local Hiring
2. Labor Standards (Wages, Benefits, Worker Safety, Workforce
Development)
3. MWBEs
4. Infrastructure