2025 Theses Master's

Middle Income Housing and Urban Equity in New York City

Vadlamudi, Akhil Akash

New York City’s housing crisis is often framed around low-income affordability, but middle-income households increasingly face severe housing challenges. This thesis examines the state of middle-income housing in NYC through a mixed-methods analysis encompassing policy review, quantitative needs assessment, spatial analysis of housing conditions, and a case study of the Mitchell-Lama program.

The findings reveal a significant mismatch between middle-income housing demand and supply – hundreds of thousands of additional units would be needed to close the gap​ (cbcny.org). Quantitative analysis shows that roughly one-third of “middle-income” renter households (earning ~60–120% of Area Median Income) are now cost-burdened by rent​ (jchs.harvard.edu). Housing maintenance data indicate that code violations are rising and heavily clustered in specific neighborhoods, underscoring pockets of substandard housing​ (citylimits.org). Spatial statistics (Moran’s I, Geary’s C, Local Indicators of Spatial Association, and Getis-Ord Gi*) confirm non-random geographic patterns in housing stress, identifying distinct “hotspots” of affordability gaps and deteriorating housing.

The case study of the Mitchell-Lama program – a centerpiece of NYC’s middle-income housing policy in the mid-20th century – illustrates both the potential of public-private partnerships to create affordable homes at scale and the vulnerability of these units to loss through privatization. These insights point to critical policy gaps: NYC lacks sufficient tools today to serve households who earn too much for traditional subsidies yet cannot afford market-rate housing. The thesis concludes by proposing a suite of policy reforms, including reviving production programs for moderate-income housing, strengthening preservation of existing units, zoning changes to enable more “missing middle” development, and new financing mechanisms. Taken together, these strategies chart a path toward a more inclusive housing policy that addresses the full spectrum of urban housing need.