De Blasio's affordable housing plan wins support of ex-foe

A group that had vociferously opposed elements of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s affordable housing plan endorsed it Sunday in an about-face, as the mayor visited churches in the Bronx and Harlem to gather still more support before a City Council vote.

The Real Affordability for All coalition declared its mission nearly accomplished after the administration vowed to study ways to include homes for the lowest-income New Yorkers and set higher job standards.

“We know Mayor de Blasio shares our core progressive values, and he has listened to our concerns,” the group’s campaign director, Maritza Silva-Farrell, said in a statement. “This framework provides a clear win for everyone.”

The coalition of housing and labor activists had protested during recent weeks by rallying hundreds in the rain near City Hall and threatening civil disobedience. Its approval marked a turning point for de Blasio as two key aspects of his plan go before the City Council for a vote later this month.

The 51-member council is considering bills to mandate the inclusion of lower-rent units in new developments and standardize building design details to, among other goals, increase density.

The Real Affordability coalition and several council members have called for de Blasio’s blueprint to include more apartments for New Yorkers making less than 30 percent of the area median income. More than half the units in the current plan are for those making between 51 percent and 80 percent of AMI, or about $42,000 to $67,000 for a family of four.

Negotiations between the mayor’s team and council leaders are ongoing.

The mayor promoted his affordable housing plan from the pulpit Sunday in the Bronx and Harlem, saying he doesn’t want the city to become a “place for only those of great means.”

At Metropolitan AME Church in fast-gentrifying Harlem, the Rev. Kim Anderson acknowledged in her introduction of the mayor that she had been priced out of the neighborhood.

“I’m not living in the community where I pastor because I can’t afford it,” Anderson said.

De Blasio asked parishioners to lobby their representatives in the City Council because he needs the two bills passed to fulfill his pledge to build or preserve 200,000 affordable apartments within a decade.

The plan will help senior citizens as well as working middle-income families that include nurses and firefighters to be able to stay and live in New York City, he said.

In a nod to Anderson, who lives in Westchester County, the mayor added: “There are pastors looking for an affordable place to live.”