AMNY | By Ethan Stark-Miller | February 13, 2025. 
The Big Apple’s dire need for more affordable housing is one of the top issues on the minds of New York City voters this election year….
…While former Bronx Assembly Member Michael Blake has yet to release his own housing plan, his campaign shared with amNewYork Metro many of the policies he has floated at a series of mayoral candidate forums.
Blake is considering using the “True Cost of Living” rather than the Area Median Income (AMI) to set prices for affordable units, which he says would make apartments more attainable for those in the lowest income groups. Where AMI measures the mid-point of a geographic region’s income levels, the True Cost of Living assesses the amount of income needed to meet the basic needs of a family in a particular area without government assistance.
Furthermore, Blake floated the idea of using vacant city-owned land to build affordable housing, an idea several candidates are considering. He also suggested offering incentives to developers to rehabilitate vacant units and rent them at affordable prices.
The former Assembly Member wants to take a more proactive approach to working on housing policy with Albany lawmakers, who have an outsize say in how and where housing gets built in the city. He wants to host “bi-weekly and bipartisan standing working sessions” with state lawmakers to “fix” laws that have contributed to the city’s housing shortage.
Blake proposed introducing legislation to protect tenants. The legislation would bar property owners from denying a renter’s application for an apartment based on their source of income.
