Out Of 630 New UWS Apartments, Only 68 Were Affordable, Study Finds

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY – Less than 10 percent of housing units developed since 2022 in District 6, which spans a big chunk of Manhattan's West Side between the 50s and the 90s, are considered affordable, according to data compiled by City Council Member Gale Brewer’s office.

The analysis, produced by one of Brewer’s interns, Erik Ghalib, sheds light on the type of housing being built in some of New York City’s densest neighborhoods.

“We will never get out of the housing crisis if 90 percent [of new apartments] are market rate and luxury,” Brewer said outside of 211 West 84th Street, an under-construction development set to add 45 luxury condominiums to Broadway in 2026.

In an interview, Brewer also told Patch that she's a "yes" on Mayor Eric Adams' major zoning package, City of Yes.

Only 68 Affordable Apartments

Brewer's office surveyed her entire district – from the West 50s to the West 90s – and identified seven new residential developments that collectively added 630 units of new housing to the Upper West Side (recent residential development was clustered between West 78th and West 96th streets).

Of these units, only 68 were affordable, with the bulk located in one building: 266 West 96th Street, which included 67 affordable units out of 171 total. The remaining developments consisted almost entirely of market-rate or luxury units (250 West 96th Street contributed a single affordable unit, out of 131 total).

“The goal was to find out how much affordable housing is included in these new developments and the answer was not very much,” Ghalib said, as he walked Patch through the labor-intensive process of gathering data from city agencies, public records, property managers, real estate developers, architects, and more.

Of units considered affordable, it wasn’t clear how affordable these apartments were, or how affordability was measured.

“No city agencies had any sort of listings or database, and that’s something that came out of this process,” Ghalib added.

“We have to have a bill – literally a piece of legislation – that says you must list the affordables,” Brewer said, shaking her head. Tracking the production and loss of affordable units would fall within the purview of the Department of Buildings (DOB) and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).

City of Yes

The analysis was released as the City Council prepares to vote on a landmark zoning and affordable housing package on Thursday, which Brewer said she will support. Essentially a revised version of Mayor Eric Adams’ “City of Yes” proposal, the plan would be the biggest change to the city’s zoning code in decades, if passed.

It's estimated to lead to the construction of approximately 80,000 units of new housing citywide, about a quarter of which are expected to be considered affordable. The effort also includes a commitment of $5 billion toward the development and preservation of affordable housing.

Since 2008, New York City may have lost as many as 500,000 low-cost apartments; Brewer believes in Manhattan alone 150,000 rent-stabilized units have evaporated.

“I just don’t know how you’re going to get to 540,000 [new units of low-cost housing] with ‘a little bit here and a little bit there,’” Brewer said, echoing a common City of Yes talking point.

“There’s supply and there’s preservation, and I don’t want that preservation part to be forgotten,” she said.

But something may be better than nothing.

“We don’t know how much [affordable housing] will be built, it’s up to the developers,” she said. “I’m also concerned about who’s going to be building: I prefer nonprofits, but if it's going to be a public-private partnership, I’d like to see local developers, not international, VCs, and other kinds of investment firms – which is often the situation in Manhattan.”

Across the street, the clangs and hammers of construction continued at 211 West 84th Street, a Naftali Group project.

“Some of these buildings that have been built here would’ve been affordable under the new rules,” Brewer said, alluding to the buildings analyzed in Ghalib’s report.

“There are a couple of sites where people are looking to build in the area, so we’ll see if they comply – whether they want to go a couple of extra floors or just stay market,” she continued, referring to Universal Affordability Preference (UAP), a major element of City of Yes that allows developers to build higher if 20 percent of their total income-restricted units are at or below 40 percent of area median income (AMI), currently $62,120 for a family of four.

What About Warehousing?

Brewer and Council Member Carlina Rivera recently passed a bill requiring the city to create a new 311 option for tenants to report and request inspection of vacant units creating hazardous conditions in their buildings. But the legislation would also shine a light on the practice of landlords “warehousing” apartments – or deliberately keeping them off the market – as they await higher rents or a deal with a developer. Meant to be online in August, implementation was reportedly still on hold as of earlier this fall.

The city’s Department of Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD) has not yet responded to a request for comment, but we'll update this story if and when we hear back.

Foreign Buyers

Another island, Hawaii, has considered a controversial – and possibly illegal – bill that would bar foreign property ownership in the state. What does Brewer think about approaches like this one that aim to regulate market forces?

“I would be interested in it, particularly for smaller buildings. I can tell you, without naming any countries in particular, they’re buying up - even if you’re trying to buy a small building in the Bronx. I can give you one story in Manhattan: there was a U-Haul building on 125th Street that was vacant and a local developer was willing to pay $4 million. A Chinese developer paid $48 million.”

Thinking Big Picture

“I have a crazy idea, which is Ward’s Island…big island,” she said, referring to the land in between the Upper East Side, the Bronx, and Astoria that's traversed by the Triboro Bridge. “I want permanent Mitchell-Lama on Ward’s Island.”

Mitchell-Lama, a 1950s-era New York State initiative that provides affordable rental and cooperative housing for moderate- and middle-income families through subsidies and regulatory agreements with developers, was once a cornerstone of efforts to maintain housing affordability in the city.

So: What About City of Yes?

“I’m going to vote yes. The City Council spent quite a bit of time on this, to their credit. I’m aware of what the challenges are, and I do want the preservation aspect, I want the city to purchase some of these buildings that are going vacant. That would provide tons of housing, particularly supportive, which is what we need," Brewer said, specifically naming hotels which as of recently served as migrant shelters.

"Right now as we speak there’s a building for sale, 57th and 9th Avenue, I’m hoping that a nonprofit buys it. It’s almost 1,000 units.”

UPDATE: City of Yes passed on Thursday, 31-20.