New York City families are struggling to stay in their homes, seniors fear they can’t afford to retire here, and the very fabric of our communities is fraying at the edges. I see it every day — families pushed out of their neighborhoods by rents that seem to climb higher with each passing month.
It is a fundamental threat to our city’s future. As a candidate for city comptroller, I’m determined to make affordable housing a top priority, not just a talking point. And my plan, the NYC Affordability Fund, is designed to deliver real results.
The NYC Affordability Fund isn’t some abstract concept; it’s a concrete strategy to leverage up to $2.5 billion in Economically Targeted Investments (ETI) funds — money already set aside within our pension system — to create or preserve 75,000 affordable housing units within the next decade. That’s a huge number, a three-fold increase in housing set-asides for our hardworking city employees, and a crucial lifeline for countless New Yorkers.
This fund will also jumpstart stalled projects, ensuring fair labor practices along the way, while still meeting our obligations to retirees and delivering a solid return on investment. We’ll be using a low-risk, high-return mezzanine debt structure with an equity conversion option, ensuring that these investments will help strengthen our pension funds while simultaneously prioritizing affordable housing.
My plan includes four key proposals, all working together to address this crisis. The first is building the NYC Affordability Fund: This fund, operating within the ETI framework of our pension system, will strategically invest in affordable housing projects across our five boroughs — improving existing units and constructing new ones. It’s designed to be financially sound and responsible because it will grow pensioner assets, while also tripling set-asides for municipal workers and prioritizing strong labor protections. This isn’t just about numbers; it’s about giving our city workers a chance to live in the city they serve.
Next, we need to shift our perspective on affordable housing. I’ll declare affordable housing a “core” investment category within the comptroller’s office. This will allow the pension fund to offer highly competitive financing rates to developers, making projects easier to launch and complete while ensuring strong returns for pensioners. This designation, traditionally reserved for other asset classes, now reflects the reality that affordable housing is a stable, income-generating investment, particularly given recent market instability.
We must also break down barriers to investment. Right now, outdated regulations artificially limit how much our pension funds can invest in affordable housing. These restrictions are part of a broader system designed to manage investment risk, but they unfairly penalize affordable housing. We need to remove those artificial barriers, unlocking new investment and interventions in the market without jeopardizing the overall return on our pension investments.
Finally, we must lift the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Cap: The LIHTC is a critical tool, but it’s severely limited by a per capita formula that fails to address the scale of our crisis. As comptroller, I’ll work with state and federal partners to lift that cap, freeing up much-needed funding for projects currently stalled due to lack of financing. These projects are ready; we simply need to remove the artificial roadblocks.
The policies we pursue today will determine whether New York remains a place where people of all incomes can thrive or a city where only the wealthy can afford to stay. The cost of inaction is too high. Without urgent reform, more families will be pushed into homelessness, more small businesses will suffer as longtime customers are priced out, and our communities will lose the diversity and vibrancy that make them strong. We cannot afford to let bureaucracy, politics, or outdated policies stand in the way of real solutions.
My commitment to addressing the housing crisis goes far beyond these proposals. My experience as Manhattan borough president and a City Council member has given me firsthand knowledge of this problem. Initiatives like right to counsel and securing thousands of new affordable housing units across Manhattan demonstrate my ability to deliver tangible results.
This is not just an economic issue; it’s a moral one. The housing crisis threatens the very soul of our city, jeopardizing the lives and well-being of countless New Yorkers. The NYC Affordability Fund is more than a plan; it’s to build a more just, equitable city where every New Yorker has access to a safe, affordable home. Let’s work together to make that promise a reality.
Levine, the Manhattan borough president, is running for city comptroller. ...read more read less
