“Mitchell-Lama was one of New York’s most successful projects, and the time has come for us to do it again.”
It is well-known that New York City is in the midst of an affordability crisis. While a large part of the solution lies in helping low-income New Yorkers thrive through programs like Section 8, an often overlooked population that is being hit hard by this crisis is the middle class.
A recent report by the Community Service Society of New York revealed that 39 percent of eviction orders between 2021 and 2024 have been directed to middle-income households. This is a 12 percent increase from pre-pandemic years 2014 to 2019. Between 2020 and 2022, over 400,000 people left the state, 94 percent of whom were from New York City. Many of these residents were middle and working-class people who left due to the high cost of living.
It is obvious that New York City needs more units designated for middle-income residents. A critical component of addressing this lies in creating new middle-income housing. The Mitchell-Lama program does just that, providing affordable rental and cooperative housing to moderate and middle-income families.
The program started 70 years ago, when the city was undergoing rising costs of living compounded by the disinvestment of developers in middle-income housing. Between 1955 and 1981, the Mitchell-Lama initiative successfully built over 100,000 middle-income apartments. As a result, housing costs stabilized and the city was able to prosper. The program was essential for preventing a middle-class exodus from New York City. Mitchell-Lama was one of New York’s most successful projects, and the time has come for us to do it again.
As members of the New York State Assembly representing Lower Manhattan, including numerous Mitchell-Lama developments, we know how integral these homes are to the generations of New Yorkers who have been able to grow up, raise their families, and age in place in these units.
We need modern, sustainable housing for the middle class that is permanently affordable, accessible, and built to last. With the past success of Mitchell-Lama, city and state leaders have a blueprint for making middle-income housing attainable. Indeed, our colleagues in Albany have begun to see the inherent value in well-maintained, readily available middle-income units.
In last year’s state budget, as well as this year’s, we put $80 million aside for new middle-income housing, for a total of $160 million. We also provided $100 million in capital last year and $140 million this year, for a total of $240 million, to help fix up existing Mitchell-Lama developments and to build new middle-income housing.
These investments can create tremendous opportunities for home ownership for thousands of New York families, the benefits of which are undeniable. In addition to building wealth through equity, homeownership is associated with increased community involvement and stability. The sense of belonging created by homeownership leads to greater civic engagement and participation in local initiatives, giving residents even greater control over the prosperity of their communities.
Now is the time to act. New York has the opportunity to champion middle-income housing by working with developers and using city and government property to jumpstart this development.
If we fail to take action, the outcome is clear: New York will continue to grow more and more unaffordable, families will have to make greater sacrifices to make rent payments, many will be forced to leave altogether, and our cherished communities will erode.
Harvey Epstein and Grace Lee are members of the New York State Assembly representing Lower Manhattan.
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