Recent Trends in the Availability and Affordability of Housing in New York City

A broad range of interests - from affordable housing advocates to businesses worried about their workforce - are increasingly concerned that housing affordability in the City is declining rapidly, and that at least one of the causes of that decline is a shortage of housing in the City. In this chapter we use the most recent data from the 2005 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (HVS) to assess these concerns. First, we examine changes in affordability over the last three years, and do find a striking decrease in the number of units that are affordable to lower-income City residents. Second, we analyze the balance between the demand for, and supply of, housing in the City by looking at the extent to which the housing stock has grown relative to changes in population in recent years. After looking at those trends, we offer a snapshot assessment of the size of the
imbalance between housing demand and supply as of 2005.