8. Rent Subsidy

The number of people with rent subsidies in New York City

The Museum of the City of New York had a show over the winter focusing on affordable housing in the city. The show was a rich look at various types of affordable housing projects undertaken in the last 100 or so years. (Coverage of the show can be found here and here.) One wall in particular proclaims “approximately 1 in 8 New Yorkers lives in subsidized housing.” Such a nice round number leaves questions about whether rent controlled units count (maybe?) or if tax breaks on mortgage interest qualifies as state subsidy (probably not for the sake of this exhibit). For some of the complexities of housing supply and affordability I would recommend this article.