Orkus believes the state program strikes the right balance in this regard. When affordable homeownership units are sold, their value isn’t capped. Instead, the units must be sold to someone whose income falls within a specific range.
Matthew Dunbar, chief of staff and executive vice president at Habitat for Humanity NYC and Westchester County, has worked on policies focused on creating homeownership opportunities within the city’s existing housing stock.
He thinks more could be done to create a path for multifamily projects that receive low-income housing tax credits to eventually convert to homeownership units. Ultimately, he thinks ramping up this type of housing requires attention to both new construction and preservation.
“We are not going to be able to move the needle just with new construction,” he said.




