In New York: As New Zoning Kicks In, Will it Bring Affordable Housing or Gentrification?

Taller buildings are going up, but, so far, developers are making good on their promises to bring affordable housing to the neighborhood.

With lawsuits settled, developers are nosing in

With the lawsuits settled in favor of change in the middle-class northern Manhattan enclave of Inwood, developers have begun nosing in, intent on putting up tall new buildings where they were not permitted before.

Since last fall, when New York’s top court greenlighted a sweeping rezoning of the area, builders have acquired a half-dozen redevelopment sites. At the same time, a handful of projects that were put on hold for years while a lawsuit to halt the rezoning wound its way through courts, have recently snapped back to life.

Many of the new projects include plans for affordable housing

Many of the new projects contain unusually large amounts of affordable housing, which could allay fears about Inwood’s becoming New York’s latest bastion of luxury. And the arrival of developers has been more of a trickle than a flood, at least for now.

Has the rezoning opened the doors to large-scale gentrification?

But opponents still worry that just like in reinvented areas like Hudson Yards, the rezoning has opened the door to gentrification whether if it happens immediately or not. Read more