Why Your Rent Isn't Actually Affordable, and the Fix I'm Fighting For
A few weeks ago, I broke down the "sneaky trick" behind how affordable housing gets labeled in Westchester County: the eligibility math gets calculated on a countywide income level instead of a local one, which quietly locks out the very families the program is supposed to help. That video struck a nerve, so I made a follow-up going deeper into the specific fix I'd push for as a county legislator.
Watch the full video here: Why Your Rent Isn't Actually Affordable #shorts #rent
Here's the math nobody wants to explain to you. When the incomes of towns like Scarsdale and Bronxville, some of the highest-earning towns in the entire county, get factored into the "affordable" calculation for a brand-new building in downtown Yonkers, you end up with affordable units priced for households making $80,000 to $120,000 a year. That number sounds reasonable on paper. It does nothing for the single mom working two jobs and bringing home $55,000 a year. She falls right below the cutoff and gets locked out of the very program built in her name.
Once elected, here's what I'm going to push for: calculating affordability based on a small municipality range, something like a two or three mile radius around the actual development, instead of blending in the entire county. Why should Scarsdale or Bronxville incomes have anything to do with what counts as "affordable" in a downtown Yonkers apartment building? If we calculated this the right way, based on the real local average, likely closer to $45,000 to $50,000, we would actually be helping the people this program was designed for in the first place.
This isn't a small technical detail. It's the loophole developers use to look good while doing very little. They put out a press release about a beautiful new building with "affordable units included," while the average Yonkers resident still can't come close to affording to live there. I know someone who moved into a downtown Yonkers studio, 450 square feet, and paid $2,300 a month for it. Call that whatever you want. It is not affordable housing.
These are the kinds of things that have to change, and it's exactly what I'm fighting for.
Dan D'Amico is running for Westchester County Legislature, District 16, representing Yonkers.
Comments