Affordable Housing That's Very Costly

There are two appealing facts about inclusionary zoning: developers pay for it, so it has no direct fiscal cost at a time when direct subsidy dollars for affordable housing are scarce; and it produces economic integration, with high- and low-income households living on the same hallways. This is no small thing in Manhattan, where high housing costs — rents rose 19 percent from 2005 to 2012 — are turning it into an island of exclusivity. On the other hand, the affordable housing units created by inclusionary zoning are extremely expensive. The subsidy to each family getting an affordable two-bedroom unit at Abington House will be worth nearly $90,000 a year. That money could cover rent for several families in a middle-income neighborhood in boroughs outside Manhattan, like Sunnyside, Queens.