NEW YORK, NY December 11, 2002 — Mayor Michael Bloomberg's three billion dollar plan to create and preserve
65-thousand units of affordable housing in the next five years is being
hailed as the city's biggest housing initiative since the mid-1980's.
Housing advocates, who are often at odds with the city, called the plan
"visionary." WNYC's Amy Eddings reports.

The last time a mayor unveiled a major housing initiative, it was 1986, and
Ed Koch was in office. Sixteen years later, speaking at the New York
Housing and National Housing Conference, Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the
14-hundred people in attendance that that morning, while speaking with
Katie Couric on the "Today Show," he realized that the more things change,
the more they stay the same.

Bloomberg: She asked me, "What's new in New York?" I said, "Not much. Big
budget deficit. Service cuts. Tax rises. A possible transit strike. My
approval ratings plummeting. The Knicks in the NBA cellar. Same old
stuff. (Laughter.) This must sound like d j vu all over again for Ed Koch.
(Laughter) Seriously, though, I would be happy if, at the end of the day,
New Yorkers remember me for the same reason they remember and love Ed Koch.
And that is for his tremendous record of achievement in areas like housing.

Koch spent more than five billion dollars -- most of which was city capital
funds -- over ten years to build 150-thousand units. Bloomberg, with a six
billion dollar budget gap waiting in the wings, plans a more modest
initiatve. In five years, he wants to build 65-thousand units for $3
billion dollars. Two billion of that money is already budgeted. But the
remaining one billion comes from what Bloomberg calls "financial magic."
Half of it will come from funds originally intended for improving the
city's foreclosed properties. Bloomberg says many of those properties have
already been developed. The other half will come from leveraging the cash
assets and borrowing against the mortgages of the city's Housing
Development Corporation.

Bloomberg: That's the strategy, to make creative use of all the tools at
our disposal. The success of that strategy is crucial to our city's
long-range economic future.

And, Bloomberg said, to welcoming applause, for the first time, the city
will offer apartments to moderate income families, earning between
$37-thousand and $62-thousand dollars a year.

Bloomberg: This includes teachers, police officers, firefighters, health
care workers. The kind of people who make communities stronger.

Mayor Bloomberg also wants to spur development by streamling the approval
process for developers, and overhauling the building code, with the City
Council's help, to lower construction costs. Bloomberg will also need
Council approval for his plan to re-zone the waterfront and other
industrial areas for apartments. Councilmember David Yassky represents
several waterfront neighborhoods in Brookklyn.

Yassky: We need to re-zone underutilized waterfronts for housing. We can
create thousands of apartments for the waterfront. My concern is that part
of what gets built is affordable housing.

Yassky thought the plan was a good, bold move. And so did Joe Weisbord,
the staff director of the group, Housing First!

Weisbord: I think to have the Mayor of the City of New York standing up
before a crowd like this and saying, this is a critical issue for the
future of this city, it's critical to our economic vitality, it's critical
to making the city a place that's desirable for people to live and work, is
big.

In fact, it seems everyone liked the plan. A member of the Manhattan
Institute, a conservative think tank, appreciated the reduction of
regulations. And even the Coalition for the Homeless, which has frequently
taken the city to court, warmed to what Bloomberg had to say. The mayor's
plan includes creating 820 additional units of permanent housing for the
homeless. Patrick Markee is the Coalition's senior policy analyst.

Markee: You know, we're pleased to see that there are increased resources
for homeless families and individuals in Mayor Bloomberg's plan. It's also
clear that more can be done.

Tomorrow, in an address to the Association for A Better New York, the mayor
will discuss the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, an area where he says new
housing is critical. For WNYC, I'm Amy Eddings