The Long, Complicated History of Affordable Housing in New York

The ends of subway lines are often thought of as mysterious places, separate from the rush of the rest of New York. But just across the street from the terminus of the 3 train at 148 Street and 7th Avenue are the Dunbar Apartments, one of the earliest examples of affordable housing in New York City—a concept which to this day affects hundreds of thousands of residents and is very much at the epicenter of the city’s current politics.

Affordable housing in New York is inseparable from its long and complicated history. “It’s a layered, sedimentary system,” says Nicholas Dagen Bloom, a social science professor at New York Institute of Technology. Developments from each decade dating back to the turn of the 20th century exist now alongside each other, governed and financed through myriad means. When it comes to affordable housing, there is no one story to tell.