Adds ANHD executive director Benjamin Dulchin, “When the city rezones a neighborhood to include an allowance to build taller and denser, it means the value of a developer's land is increased dramatically with the stroke of a pen. Many communities have asked that these types of rezonings include assurances that create housing affordable to the local community – especially since they can lead to secondary displacements pressures and the loss of rent-regulated housing. Zoning is a public tool that creates private value – it can, and should, be an effective tool for permanently affordable housing as well.”

Lander's report's revealed that other than Mahattan's West Side and the Greenpoint/Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, very few inclusionary housing units were created, even where there was significant development.In the other two dozen designated areas where inclusionary housing was permitted, only 6% of all residential development was affordable housing created through the program. That inventory was in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant; on 125^th Street in Harlem; the Lower East Side; on the Harlem River waterfront; Riverside South; and in Jamaica, Queens.

While the areas eligible for inclusionary zoning include many of the fastest-growing parts of the city, the report continues, they collectively contained only 13% of all new multi-family development citywide. Overall, inclusionary zoning represents less than 2% of all multifamily building permit applications in New York City during these years. The program must be improved to ensure that affordable housing is created in communities undergoing new development, Lander states in the paper.

ANHD's guaranteed inclusionary zoning report suggests the new Mayor require that all large and medium sized developments set 20% of units as affordable housing without accessing City funds. And developers who seek city or state subsidies for affordable housing or who request a zoning change could be required to expand affordability beyond the 20% baseline or affordable to lower-income levels.

ANHD's report also looks out for developers' interests. The report lays out inclusionary zoning program changes designed to streamline the building process, and allow for a variety of alternate options making it easier for developers to use. Additionally, the ANHD report calls both for improved tracking of inclusionary zoning development and regular reports on the impact of the expanded policy. Lander plans to introduce legislation in the City Council that requires the city to report regularly on the inclusionary zoning program's results.