Flushing West Rezoning Plans

Mayor DeBlasio’s Housing New York plan tries to tackle the affordable housing crisis in New York City. The affordable housing plan for Flushing West is designed to relieve the overcrowding problems in Flushing and lower the burden of rent on low income households. More than 54% of the residents spend more than 35% of their gross income on rent (U.S. Census Bureau) Rent prices are increasing which will likely lead to the displacement of current residents with low income. The housing situation was exacerbated by the completion of SkyView Center in 2010, as it added more stress to the already overcrowded streets and congested roads of Flushing.

Rezoning is the changing of the zoning or zoning classification assigned to property for land use.

The area of Flushing that is planned to be rezoned is outlined below.

The rezoning of Flushing West has not been approved yet. To read more on the the proposed Flushing Rezoning, read the DCP proposed Draft Scope at http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/applicants/env-review/flushing-west/draft_scope.pdf

However, if it were to be approved, then the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) policy would be implemented, requiring developers to include affordable housing units as described in the chart below. 

Affordable housing units are defined as units in which the residents spend no more than a third of its total income on housing costs. The area median income (AMI) used for the formation of the MIH policy as $77,500.

As a part of the approved policy the City Planning Commission and the City Council may choose to impose

1. Option 1: 25% of affordable housing set aside at 60% area median income (AMI) with a maximum annual income of $47,000 in which 10% of the housing is required to be for 40% of the AMI with a maximum annual income of $31,000
2. Option 2: 30% of affordable housing set aside at 80% area median income with a maximum annual income of $62,000.
   
   After choosing one of those two options, the City Planning Commission and the City Council may choose to add one or both of the two options:
   
3. 20% of affordable housing set aside at 40% area median income with a maximum annual income of $31,000, which cannot be used with a subsidy unless more affordable housing is included
4. 30% of affordable housing set aside at 115% area median income with a maximum annual income of $89,000 in which 5% of the housing required to be for 70% of the AMI with a maximum annual income of $54,000 and 5% of the housing required to be for 90% of the AMI with a maximum annual income of $70,000, which cannot be used with a subsidy.

Along with the required MIH, rezoning also mandates that developers include green space in the rezoned area.