Crain’s NY, NICK GARBER, January 2, 2023

New York City will begin offering public money to developers who build market-rate housing, the latest effort by Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to chip away at the city’s desperate shortage of homes — in this case, by encouraging more construction in expensive neighborhoods.

City subsidies for housing have long been confined to fully affordable projects only. That will change under the new program announced on Tuesday, housed within the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and dubbed the Mixed Income Market Initiative.

The program aims to fill part of the void left by the state-level 421-a tax break, whose expiration last year has caused new housing construction to plummet in the city. The city will not directly subsidize the market-rate units themselves. Instead, it will provide subsidies for projects that include everything from extremely low-income housing up to moderate-income and market-rate units — allowing those more expensive apartments to cover the costs developers incur from building more affordable homes.

Read More: Crain’s NY