Across New York, publicly subsidized housing is being allowed to expire — putting tenants at risk of displacement.
Programs like LIHTC, 421a, and other regulatory agreements are structured around sunsets and expiration periods. That means affordability is treated as temporary even though the need is permanent.
When protections end, tenants can be pushed out so units can be repositioned for higher-paying residents. Our current system incentivizes displacement instead of stability.
Preserving the housing we already have is often faster, cheaper, and less disruptive than trying to rebuild affordability after it disappears.
New housing matters. But if we keep allowing existing affordability to expire, we will stay trapped in a cycle of loss, displacement, and shortage.
Preserving affordable housing is often less expensive than creating new affordable units from the ground up.
Preservation avoids years of land acquisition, financing delays, and construction timelines.
Keeping existing residents in place protects schools, local businesses, support networks, and neighborhood ties.
Preservation helps prevent the displacement pressures that many current housing strategies can intensify.
Affordable housing created with public subsidy should stay affordable for the long term, not just for a compliance period.
New York should extend LIHTC and other affordability agreements so housing does not fall off a cliff at the moment communities need it most.
New York and the federal government must invest serious resources in acquiring and preserving at-risk housing before affordability sunsets.
Communities need the power and resources to purchase through COPA, TOPA, and preservation-oriented nonprofit acquisition.
Nearly half a million affordable homes are projected to lose protections this decade, creating a wave of instability that policymakers can still prevent.
The U.S. produces roughly 75,000 to 100,000 new LIHTC units each year. Even at peak production, we are losing affordable housing as fast as we build it.
Other states have extended affordability for far longer periods. New York can choose permanence, preservation, and community stability over recurring loss.
Between 50,000 and 100,000 apartments in New York City are sitting vacant — many rent-stabilized and among the most affordable in the city.
If affordability is the goal, apartment warehousing must be addressed — and bringing these homes back to market must be a top priority.
We are starting with one clear principle: affordability should never expire. Temporary affordability programs cannot be treated as lasting solutions to a permanent crisis.
This initiative is focused on preservation, housing stability, and policy reform that puts people over profits.