Progress for whom, toward what? Progressive politics and New York City’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing

ABSTRACT

In both its historical Progressive Era roots and its contemporary manifestations, U.S. urban progressivism has evinced a contradictory tendency toward promoting the interests of capital and property while ostensibly protecting labor and tenants, thus producing policies that undermine its central claims. This article interrogates past and present appeals to urban progressive politics, particularly around housing and planning, and offers an in-depth case study of one of the most highly touted examples of the new urban progressivism: New York City’s recently adopted Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. This case serves to identify the ways in which progressive rhetoric can disguise neoliberal policies. The article concludes with a discussion of legally viable housing policy alternatives that would challenge inequalities without producing gentrification. Given neoprogressivism’s ideological slipperiness, it is crucial for analysts, policymakers, and social movement actors to look beyond rhetorical claims to “progressive” politics and ask the questions: progress for whom, toward what?

Acknowledgments

I thank Stanley Aronowitz, Megan Joy, Cindi Katz, John Krinsky, Zachary Neal, Ron Vogel, and the three anonymous reviewers for their generous readings and thoughtful suggestions.

Notes

1. Extremely low income is defined as those making less than 30% of the federally defined area median income for the New York City metropolitan area. Because most public housing residents pay 30% of their income in rent, we can presume that the 70% of extremely low-income households who are facing extreme rent burdens live in the city’s private housing stock.

2. There are additional mechanisms available for deeper affordability, financed through tax abatements and bond issues. These tools, however, are not built into the zoning code and tend to expire after a period of time—usually 15 to 30 years.

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Samuel Stein

Samuel Stein is a Doctoral Candidate in Geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and an Urban Studies instructor at Hunter College. His book on urban planners in the “real estate state” will be published by Verso in the fall of 2018.