Report: Brooklyn is too poor to benefit from the city’s affordable housing plan

Just as Jimmy McMillan took off his superhero cape and dropped out of public life, we’ve got some more bad news about the rent and how it’s extremely high. A new report from Comptroller Scott Stringer says that even the affordable housing plan that Mayor Tall is rolling out could wind up being out of reach for most of Brooklyn. Yes it’s just good news all around for everyone who can’t afford to own (which is pretty much all of us).

Stringer’s report on the mayor’s plan to introduce mandatory inclusionary zoning in new construction was shared with the Brooklyn Paper and as it turns out, the comptroller has some concerns. Stringer’s report claims that the zoning plan is flawed since it’s based on the use of area median income to determine what income levels the housing is available to, and that formula includes the five boroughs as well as the much richer Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties which raises the AMI to levels not seen in most Brooklyn neighborhoods.

With the AMI at $77,000/year and huge swathes of Brooklyn neighborhood median incomes coming in at half and even under half of that figure, the plan to set aside housing for families making $46,620/year and $62,160/year looks like it would wind up shutting families across Brooklyn out of the chance at an affordable apartment completely. The Paper also notes that a majority of community boards in Brooklyn have voted against endorsing the plan, and if you take a look at the map of neighborhood median income that goes with the story, you can see why. So maybe this will be a short retirement for Jimmy McMillan, or maybe someone else will pick up the mantle of the rent being too damn high. OR maybe this will be like the time Superman died and four people showed up claiming the mantle but not really being a great replacement. Basically nothing good will happen is what we’re predicting.