Affordable Housing in New York - by Nicholas Dagen Bloom & Matthew Gordon Lasner (Paperback)

About the Book

A richly illustrated history of below-market housing in New York, from the 1920s to today that is essential reading for understanding and advancing debates about how to enable future generations to call New York home.

Book Synopsis

A richly illustrated history of below-market housing in New York, from the 1920s to today

A colorful portrait of the people, places, and policies that have helped make New York City livable, Affordable Housing in New York is a comprehensive, authoritative, and richly illustrated history of the city's public and middle-income housing from the 1920s to today. Plans, models, archival photos, and newly commissioned portraits of buildings and tenants by sociologist and photographer David Schalliol put the efforts of the past century into context, and the book also looks ahead to future prospects for below-market subsidized housing. A dynamic account of an evolving city, Affordable Housing in New York is essential reading for understanding and advancing debates about how to enable future generations to call New York home.

From the Back Cover

"With New York City's population and employment at an all-time high, the challenge of maintaining an adequate supply of affordable housing has never been greater. Covering over a century of government involvement in the production of housing, this impressive survey provides a valuable guide to understanding the range of approaches to planning and community development."--Mark A. Willis, executive director of the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy

"New York City has been one of the greatest homes in human history for the aspirations of newly arrived immigrants, marginalized families, striving entrepreneurs, and culturally diverse talents because the city's reformers, advocates, and activists have demanded livable and affordable housing across two centuries of city building. Bloom and Lasner have shaped a compelling story of housing innovation, urban determination, and, most importantly, essential human progress and lives touched in profound ways."--Henry Cisneros, former secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

"Affordable Housing in New York is an engaging account of more than a century of efforts to provide New Yorkers with below-market housing. The contributors are excellent and the extensive illustrations enhance the rich text."--Lawrence Vale, author of Purging the Poorest: Public Housing and the Design Politics of Twice-Cleared Communities

"Highlighting the important people, places, and policies that tell the story of below-market housing in New York, this is an authoritative history of the subject."--Edward G. Goetz, University of Minnesota

"Affordable Housing in New York is a treasure trove of profiles and photographs of the buildings, programs, and people that have long distinguished New York City as the nation's preeminent leader in providing housing for low- and moderate-income people. Whether one is an expert on housing or new to the field, this book will be an essential reference."--Alex Schwartz, author of Housing Policy in the United States

Review Quotes

""Book Title of the Year," as selected for Curbed.com's Architecture in 2015: A Year in Review"

About the Author

Nicholas Dagen Bloom is professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College, City University of New York. His books include Public Housing That Worked: New York in the Twentieth Century. Matthew Gordon Lasner is associate professor of urban studies and planning at Hunter College, City University of New York. He is the author of High Life: Condo Living in the Suburban Century.