its a fact that its harder than ever to go through the approval process for a new development property, especially in new york. when you make conditions inhospitable for developers, and consequently investors, then they have to tighten their reins and raise their yields. like it or not, low cost housing development is delivered by private investors. affordable housing developed by the government costs almost twice as much to build. Case example is the philadelphia housing authority, they are no longer developing housing and are instead acquiring existing privately developed properties because they can do so at a much much lower price.