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TAX INCREMENT FINANCING FOR NEW YORK CITY’S AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECTS



INTRODUCTORY EXCERPT


This study explores whether Tax Increment Financing (TIF) could be adapted to support affordable housing development in New York City, where rising construction costs and constrained public budgets continue to limit both new production and long-term affordability. While TIF has been widely used in other U.S. cities as a value-capture tool to fund redevelopment and infrastructure, New York City has never adopted the mechanism as part of its housing finance strategy.

This analysis examines how TIF has been structured and implemented in Atlanta, Baltimore, and Massachusetts, focusing on governance frameworks, affordability outcomes and equity implications. These case studies highlight the conditions under which TIF has successfully supported affordable housing, as well as the risks associated with weak oversight, imprecise affordability requirements and displacement pressures.




Building on these precedents, this analysis evaluates how a pilot TIF district could operate in a New York City context, capturing future increases in property tax revenues generated by rezoning or major public investment and reinvesting them into affordable housing production.
Rather than proposing TIF as a replacement for existing tools such as LIHTC or Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, the study positions it as a complementary financing mechanism capable of addressing gaps in the affordable housing capital stack.

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT CITIES | COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY | FALL 2025








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