[kevindong]

For example, this lottery [0] from early 2020 permits individuals with an income of $168,130 to qualify for the affordable unit.

Affordable housing units developed during some of the late 2000s to early 2010s had very, very high income limits. Those housing programs have mostly been sunset at this point but units built under those programs retain the income bracket levels then in effect.

http://web.archive.org/web/20200110053546/http://www.nychdc....

[scrose]

Interesting, thanks for the history! I personally qualified for/lived in an affordable housing unit for a few years right after college. The income limit for a single person was 95k at the time

What I find interesting about many of these units is how the net effective rent is still typically 40x annual income for people in that bracket. If I hadn’t switched jobs and gotten some significant raises in the process, much of my salary would have still been going to housing in an ‘affordable’ unit.

[kevindong]

The rent is specifically chosen to be 30% of gross annual income which works out to be exactly that magical 40x ratio that's typically used in NYC rental qualification.