“Inclusionary zoning might displace more poor people than it houses, but when the system’s casualties aren’t counted, they aren’t seen.” Despite the façade of success that inclusionary zoning may at first be promoting, Inclusionary zoning cannot be fixed with a mandatory vs. relaxed approach. Under Mayor Bloomberg, inclusionary zoning did not create affordable housing and in addition, affordable housing was not very “affordable” since many of the families living in NYC make much less than the area median income, which is the basis of inclusionary rent. Even with Mayor DeBlasio mandating that developers set aside 20% of the new apartments for low incoming, it still leaves around 80% for high-income earners. With an influx of affluent residents, neighborhoods will be pulled even more towards gentrification, increasing the cost of living in the area. Inclusionary zoning also risks pushing out already affordable housing. Many housing complexes are rent-stabilized at much lower rates than inclusionary zoning would require. As bigger buildings are built, landowners of rent-stabilized housing will be encouraged to sell and the once “affordable housing” will be replaced with more expensive housing and only a few affordable housing complexes. Affordable will no longer be affordable under inclusionary zoning.

Question: Are there any other housing models that could be used to provide affordable housing?