Bloomberg To Create 165,000 Affordable Housing Units in NYC

Bloomberg vs Thompson mayoral debate is still live on WABC-TV, but the focus of this coverage is report what they said about the cost of living and affordable housing in New York City. NYC is one of those cities where luxury apartments stay vacant, while homelessness is at record levels.

Michael Bloomberg said that he will help to create 165,000 units of affordable housing. He also noted that the president hired his commissioner of housing preservation and development, Shaun Donovan, to run the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Thompson, on the other hand, said that if elected he would replace the members of the Rent Guidelines Board with "pro-tenant" members. "People continue to be pushed out across the city of New York," he said. Thompson also said that he will work with Albany to expand Mitchell-Lama tenant protections. He said more can be done to make affordable housing available in the New York City.

Bloomberg on the other hand, during the debate said that we wil have to have "a balance between rents that people can afford," and allow landlords to “turn a profit” so they’ll stay invested in the city.

New York City's mayoral election will be held a week from tonight, on November 3rd.

Written by Armen Hareyan
Materials from NY Times and WABC-TV are used in this report.