We will continue to develop programs to preserve the existing affordable housing that so many New Yorkers depend upon today
As we focus on developing affordable housing, we must not forget that a considerable stock of affordable housing already exists in New York. One particular stock of affordable housing that is at risk is the government-assisted stock. A significant number of New Yorkers rely on 250,000 units of affordable housing provided by the Mitchell-Lama program, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program, and HUD-financed properties. These units represent an important long-term source of affordable housing for low and moderate-income New Yorkers. But, many of the original affordability restrictions set by the government to restrict rents on properties are now expiring, and in New York City's strong real estate market, owners are tempted to convert their buildings to market-rate. At the same time, some of these buildings have fallen into disrepair and need help improving housing conditions for their tenants.

To date, HPD has worked with partners to preserve these units using strategies catered to each building or group of buildings. One example of this is HPD's work with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to preserve their properties. In this case, HPD has arranged the successful transfer of more than 1,000 units from HUD's foreclosure pipeline to responsible new owners. But there are thousands more units we need to preserve. Over the coming years, we will work to create a comprehensive strategy to preserve these units with the goal of providing incentives to owners to keep their buildings affordable or to transfer them to responsible ownership. As the housing market in New York continues to evolve, the City is committed to adapting its preservation strategies to ensure we save this valuable stock of affordable housing. In fact, preserving 37,000 of these units is an explicit goal of the New Housing Marketplace Plan.

Progress (as of 4/22/08):
To date, the Administration has preserved over 60,000 units of affordable housing. In Fall 2007, HPD evaluated a 20-project portfolio of New York City-held HUD multifamily mortgages to determine how to preserve their affordability. In addition, in 2007 HPD began to work with a preservation consultant to develop a comprehensive approach to increasing preservation efforts. The consultant has reached out to various stakeholders for feedback on preliminary findings on the capacity of NYC organizations to preserve government-assisted housing. The consultant will issue its report in the summer 2008, and then share the findings with the housing community and create an implementation plan.