Bill De Blasio Promises 10,000 Affordable Apartments For Low-Income Families

NEW YORK, NY — New York City will add 10,000 affordable apartments for low-income residents, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised on Friday.

The city is rolling out the apartments for households earning less than $40,000 a year as part of its Housing New York initiative. Among those 10,000 apartments, half will be reserved for seniors and 500 for veterans, the mayor's office said.

In addition, de Blasio proposed using his yet-to-be-approved "mansion tax" to create a fund to help seniors on fixed incomes afford their rent payments. If the mansion tax is enacted and the funding is made available, the rent assistance program would provide more than 25,000 seniors with monthly rental support of up to $1,300, the mayor's office said. Whether the mansion tax will be approved in Albany is yet to be seen. The proposed tax would apply to property sales of $2 million or more within New York City.

De Blasio defended the mansion tax on Friday morning on the Brian Lehrer Show on WYNC.

"The mansion tax would net us $330 million a year that would allow us to provide affordable housing for 25,000 senior citizens," de Blasio said on WYNC. "[For the State Assembly,] I want to hear them say that they're not willing to tax billionaires and millionaires to provide affordable housing for senior citizens."

Currently, there are about 40,000 apartments reserved for families making less than $40,000 in the city's housing program. That number will rise to 50,000, according to de Blasio's Friday announcement.

"Too many of today's seniors are living in poverty and too many of our Boomers and Gen Xers who are approaching retirement don't have sufficient savings to afford New York City's high cost of living, particularly for housing," Chris Widelo of the AARP New York, said in a statement.

Lead photo via the New York City Mayor's Office.