Affordable New York

The Museum of the City of New York presents Affordable New York: A Housing Legacy, the first ever exhibition tracing the past, present, and future of subsidized housing in New York City. New York City is one of the most expensive cities in the nation, and today – as throughout the city’s history – commercial pressures combined with the dynamics of development mean that working people and their families often struggle to find decent and affordable places to live. Mayor Bill de Blasio has put a new focus on affordable housing with Housing New York, a 10-year plan that promises to preserve or add 200,000 affordable units throughout the five boroughs.

“Our plan is about the future,” said Mayor de Blasio, “but it is inspired by New York’s progressive past as a laboratory for housing innovation...We must live up to our heritage...” Affordable New York: A Housing Legacy will locate the de Blasio initiatives in the continuum of pioneering work that makes New York City stand out as a municipality. As a result of efforts that date to the nineteenth century and continue today, millions of New York residents, close to a quarter of the city’s population, now have access to a housing supply covered by some form of market protection. “At a moment when affordable housing is a ‘hot topic,’ I think people may be surprised to learn that a commitment to addressing this issue has long been part of the city’s DNA,” said Susan Henshaw Jones, Ronay Menschel Director of the Museum of the City of New York. “It is a history that the City Museum is uniquely qualified to tell.” Indeed, New York has a long and storied history of working to make quality housing accessible to all, a history that is largely unknown to New Yorkers today. In 1857, New York enacted the nation’s first tenement house laws, and it built the nation’s first public housing in 1935. Moreover, New York has consistently played a pivotal role in establishing and developing the nation’s housing policies, even as these have changed dramatically over the decades.

Visitors to Affordable New York will also discover that the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) currently owns and operates 328 developments, with 2,553 buildings containing over 177,000 units – making it the city’s largest landlord. In addition, it is estimated that 47% of NYCHA residents are members of working families.
Curated by architectural historian and author Thomas Mellins, Affordable New York is divided into four chronological sections:
 Origins: Private: 1867 to 1933
 The Era of Building Big: 1934 to 1973
 Housing the Middle Class: 1942 to 1973
 After Towers-in-the-Park: 1973 to the Present

“New York’s portfolio of affordable housing is larger and more varied than many people realize, including redbrick developments, individual apartment buildings, row houses, and even detached single- family houses,” said Mellins. “In addition, as other American cities lessen their efforts, New York strives to maintain its historic commitment to providing housing for all.” Affordable New York highlights how affordable housing policy fits into the city’s broader traditions of both activist government and engagement by government at all levels with private-sector resources for public ends. The exhibition will look at the men and women behind the reforms that have mitigated the impact of New York’s competitive real estate market. The exhibition includes the stories of individuals whose efforts led to the building and maintaining of subsidized housing, including well known government leaders such as Governor Alfred E. Smith, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, and U.S. Senator Robert Wagner, Sr., as well as activists, such as Mary Simkhovitch, whose efforts are less known.