Like many other cities and towns across the country, New York City is facing an affordable housing crisis. In the face of rising rent prices, growing numbers of people are facing housing insecurity or becoming unhoused.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In July 2026, more than 350,000 New Yorkers were without homes, and more than 96,000 people slept each night in city shelters, according to<\/a> the Coalition for the Homeless. Last year,\u00a0the city received<\/a> more than seven million applications for about 10,000 affordable housing units.<\/p>\n In May 2026, shortly after taking office, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced plans<\/a> to invest $22 billion in capital funding over five years to build 200,000 new affordable housing units. In June, the NYC Rent Guidelines Board approved<\/a> a historic rent freeze for lease renewals on about one million one- and two-year leases for rent-stabilized apartments.\u00a0As the mayor said<\/a>, \u201cThis is the relief that working people across our city deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe housing crisis is just that\u2014a crisis,\u201d Samuel Stein, a housing policy analyst with the Community Service Society of New York, tells The Progressive. \u201cEspecially for rental apartments, the costs are far more than the average New Yorker can afford.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But Stein also notes the city has \u201cthe strongest tenant protection in the country,\u201d as well as numerous community groups that are involved in creating new housing or preserving older housing for moderate or low-income people. Such organizations include the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development<\/a>, Our Bronx<\/a>, Cooper Square Committee<\/a>, and Good Old Lower East Side<\/a>.<\/p>\n Stein cites the Fifth Avenue Committee<\/a> (FAC) as a model nonprofit community development corporation. Established in 1978, it serves the South Brooklyn communities of Gowanus, Red Hook, Sunset Park, and Park Slope. FAC is also part of NeighborWorks America, a national network with nearly 250 member organizations. There are sixteen NeighborWorks America groups<\/a> in New York State, including four in New York City.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been at the Fifth Avenue Committee for 22.5 years,\u201d FAC executive director Michelle de la Uz tells The Progressive. \u201cWhen we did organizing and advocacy around affordability issues, middle-income people didn\u2019t relate so much to it\u2014it was low-income people. Then it became more moderate-income people. Now, I feel that even middle-income people feel it; I think the affordability issue is resonating with them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n