It appears even when community issues have gained awareness from the big powers, neighborhoods are still short-handed. The inclusionary zoning plan was supposed to be a game-changing plan, both during the De Blasio administration now as well as the Bloomberg administration years ago. However, Stein’s article demonstrates the contradiction of this plan and how it actually leads to an overall downgrade in the status of affordable housing. The more articles that I read about zoning and development plans, the more it becomes prevalent that the community interest really has no significance to city planning and real estate commissions. They implement certain policies and plans in order to appease the public, however they have every intention of keeping profit a priority, even at the expense of the public. Therefore, it seems as long as profit is in the picture, which it will always be, there really may be no compromise for the working class.

Stein touches on the exciting claims of inclusionary zoning to create 20% of affordable housing for every construction project, which would at first glance seem to increase affordable housing. However, it almost seems as if the logistics of the plan work to have loop holes.  If built on a vacant lot, inclusionary zoning will indeed raise the number of affordable apartments. But at the same time, the ratio of market-priced or higher than market-priced housing is still greater than affordable housing, which only serves to encourage gentrification in the targeted areas. What is worse is that plots with existing affordable housing may be bulldozed for more modern housing, which results in more displacement in net loss in affordable housing; an occurrence completely contradictory to inclusionary zoning’s projected goals.

The transformation of vacant lots into modern developments can be related to the community gardens issue. Gardens fostered by the community are being destroyed in the name of zoning. Even though this isn’t technically a decrease in affordable housing, it is a loss of something very significant to the community, a place where people can get together, as well as a benefit to those struggling with finances (gardens cut the cost of food because of locally grown produce). One big reason for this is because these gardens appear as vacant lots in many city planning maps. So if a change were to be made, it would start with the acknowledgment of gardens as a used space and not a vacant lot.