NYC finances 20,000 affordable housing apartments in a year

Posted: Monday, July 13, 2015 3:21 PM EDT Updated: Monday, July 13, 2015 3:21 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) - New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says his administration has financed the largest annual number of affordable apartments in a quarter-century.

De Blasio said Monday the city created or preserved 20,325 affordable housing units in the last fiscal year. It ended June 30.

That s the most in any year since 1989, which was the height of former Mayor Ed Koch s efforts to rebuild the South Bronx.

About 8,500 of the units in de Blasio s tally are new. The rest were preserved as affordable instead of market-rate.

Many units were reserved for extremely low-income tenants, though slightly fewer than the administration originally projected.

De Blasio unveiled his ambitious affordable housing plan in May 2014. It calls for preserving 120,000 apartments and building 80,000 more over a decade.

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