Affordable Housing and Its Impact on Economic Diversity of New York City Neighborhoods

The study analyses the effectiveness of affordable housing as a policy tool to increase neighborhood economic diversity in New York City from 1990 to 2015. Due to limited time and data availability, it assesses neighborhood economic diversity mainly based on household income and educational attainment diversity index calculated from US census and American Community Service data. Affordable housing is the major tool adopted by local governments to improve affordability and economic diversity. In Mayor de Blasio's new affordable housing plan, increase neighborhood economic diversity by creating more affordable units has been listed as one of the main goals. However, few previous studies discussed and verified the effectiveness of affordable housing as a tool to increase economic diversity other than its impact on neighborhood. The study, under such context, aims to examine the justification and effectiveness of this policy goal by exploring whether past affordable housing units increase led to economic diversity improvement in New York City neighborhoods. The regression analysis results of the study reveal that from 1991-2000, proportion of new affordable housing units have a statistically significant relationship with changes in economic diversity. This relationship is weakened in the later 15 years. It is also a highly volatile relationship that can be easily affected by affordable housing program types, gentrification and many other factors.