Since Mayor Koch, New York City mayors bold enough to commit to a housing plan each have been subject to the criticism that their plan didnt create or renovate enough housing, didnt do it fast enough, didnt reach the right populations (not enough for our poorest residents, not enough for the middle class), and that it negatively affected our existing neighborhoods with inappropriate scale, different building typologies, and unwelcome changes to the demographic makeup of the community.
We should not therefore be surprised that some of these same issues have predictably arisen in response to Mayor de Blasios Housing New York plan. That is not to say that it is unfair to complain that 200,000 units of preserved and newly constructed housing over 10 years in a city of our size is perhaps not enough. This is New York City, after all, a place where nothing that government does is ever enough and our greatest by product is disagreement. It must be acknowledged however, even by his critics, how significant the mayors plan is and that it represents a massive commitment of city financial resources that must be welcomed.
Read more in City Limits.