City didn't build promised "affordable housing"

From DNA Info:

Eight years after the city pledged to build 1,345 affordable housing units on North Brooklyn's city-owned land, only 19 of those units have been completed, officials admitted to DNAinfo New York.

The promised low- and moderate-income housing units — part of the 2005 rezoning of Williamsburg that allowed high-rise and high-end commercial and residential developments to hit the neighborhood — have been more difficult to construct than expected, officials said.

"Some sites have presented unique challenges that we are committed to working through with the community and local leaders," said a spokesman for the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The spokesman noted that an additional 722 of the pledged city-owned units were in "predevelopment," including 631 affordable housing apartments that would be built in the controversial waterfront towers at Greenpoint Landing and 65 Commercial St.

But to North Brooklyn leaders and residents, the city's failure to build affordable units quickly has displaced thousands of people as real estate prices have skyrocketed in the neighborhood. And now, a coalition of nonprofits and politicians is planning a giant rally Wednesday to "commemorate eight years of broken promises" and to demand the city move forward with the affordable housing.