LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT & CEO

The Housing Partnership Entered 2023 With Strong Momentum From 2022 Accomplishments

Dear Friends and Partners,

Since its founding in 1983, the Housing Partnership has worked hard to increase the supply of affordable housing, consistent with our mission to expand housing opportunities in the region.

We have always closely mirrored the affordable housing strategies of the City and State of New York.  In the 1980s era of “urban flight,” when New York City had tens of thousands of surplus properties available for development, the Partnership worked diligently, leading public-private partnerships to use these sites to develop affordable rental and for-sale housing.  The success of those historic Partnership efforts is now evident in the form of economically robust and socially vibrant neighborhoods with tangible population growth. The prosperity that New York enjoys today would not have been possible without the sustained work of the Housing Partnership.

With new times, however, come new challenges. 2022 saw New York facing a worsening crisis of housing affordability, with demand for affordable housing even further outstripping the supply. New York also is not exempt from the impact of inflation on the costs of housing construction labor and materials as well as the increased interest rates and supply chain disruptions that make it harder to build and preserve affordable housing. Also, in 2022, 40,000 immigrant asylum seekers arrived in New York City from the southern border seeking access to the American Dream that New York has traditionally provided newcomers. But this influx of people fleeing poverty and political oppression made New York’s affordable housing shortage more severe. To all these challenges, the Housing Partnership enthusiastically responded “we accept, and we’ll work with greater vigor for New Yorkers seeking the dignity and stability that affordable housing provides.”

In 2023, the Partnership will respond to these greater needs in several ways. We will:

• Coordinate closely with our city and state and private sector partners to expand the supply of new and renewed affordable housing opportunities
• Increase the knowledge and skills needed by City residents to find affordable rental and home-buying opportunities.
• Expand our advocacy at all levels of government for increased creation of high quality, comfortable and safe, affordable housing.
• Work with greater efficiency during this period of high inflation and interest rates affecting the housing markets in order to achieve maximum results with the resources the Partnership receives. We will continue to build and strengthen the Housing Partnership’s dedicated, motivated and caring professional team focusing on affordable housing for New Yorkers.

This Newsletter highlights the important achievements of the Partnership and its 30 employees during 2022. Our work continues as the challenge grows to provide New Yorkers greater access to safe, stable affordable homes and the dignity that brings. My colleagues and I remind ourselves daily of the importance of meeting that challenge.

– Jamie A. Smarr
President & CEO
NYC Housing Partnership

Housing Partnership
2022 Achievements

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

CREATING OPPORTUNITY

HOMEOWNERSHIP COUNSELING