Since the start of the national recession in 2008, "we have financed more affordable units—nearly 17,000—than any other US city or state," Bloomberg says in a statement. "Our administration is on track to build and preserve affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers by 2014, and we are as committed as ever to getting it done."

Launched in 2003, the NHMP was first envisioned as a five-year program to finance the construction or preservation of 65,000 affordable housing units. The plan was expanded four years ago to set the goal at 165,000 affordable units, each accommodating an average of three occupants. To date, the city has invested $4.5 billion in the program, and the New York City Housing Development Corp. has issued $5 billion in bonds.

Of the more than 100,000 units financed thus far, 33% were in Manhattan, mainly in East and Central Harlem. Another 32% were in the Bronx, 23% were in Brooklyn, 11% were in Queens and a little more than 1% were on Staten Island. Sixty-eight percent were rentals and homeownership units comprised the rest.