New York City’s “affordable” housing picture is bleak. The city cannot keep pace with the rapid, significant loss of affordable Mitchell-Lama and Limited Dividend housing units as increasing number of project owners opt out of the programs, according to a report released recently by Comptroller William Thompson Jr. Since 2004, more than 25,000 units have been or are in the process of being removed from the programs, the report showed. If all pending withdrawals occur, New York will have lost, in total, nearly one-third of the affordable units created under the programs.

According to Mr. Thompson’s report, the substantial and accelerating loss of Mitchell-Lama and Limited Dividend housing has offset many of the city’s affordable housing gains. A report issued by the Community Service Society last month finds “that over half of rental properties subsidized by New York City and State have been converted to market rates, and twenty percent more are at risk.”

A report issued in March by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now stated: “Developer after developer is invading Downtown Brooklyn and the surrounding areas with plans for luxury condominiums and apartments with few or no affordable units.” A total of 87 new developments with 5,934 housing units are under development. Only 201 units, or 3% of the total, are affordable to moderate-income people, while only 266 units, or 4% of the total, are affordable to low-income families. The key issue: Who will be able to afford to live in developments that are unaffordable for the overwhelming majority of its residents?

Today, a number of organizations and real estate developers are taking initiatives to develop and provide affordable housing for New Yorkers. In May, the New York City Housing Development Corporation approved financing for the construction or preservation of 552 apartments in four buildings in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. HDC approved tax-exempt bonds to finance the rehabilitation of two apartment buildings containing 83 apartments on Grand and Tremont avenues in Morris Heights in the Bronx. These buildings will be purchased by Mill Plain Properties Incorporated and Omni New York LLC, a development corporation whose principals are a former New York Met, Mo Vaughn, and Eugene Schneur.

HDC also approved financing for a seven-story mixed-use building to rise on a lot at 626 Sutter Ave. in East New York.The new building will contain 103 apartments for low-income families, 19,700 square feet of retail space, and 68 parking spaces. It will be developed by Jackson Development Group, which is developing two properties in the Bronx that were financed by the HDC.

“With the help of HDC and NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development, our company has been able to develop quality, affordable housing to meet the needs of community in Brooklyn and the Bronx” the president and co-founder of Jackson Development Group, Neil Weissman, said. “Over the next two years, we plan to build more than 500 affordable housing units.”

In April, HDC approved financing for Jackson Development and the Arker Companies to erect a building at 967 Kelly St. at Westchester Avenue in the Longwood neighborhood in the Bronx. The building will be financed through HDC’s Low-Income Affordable Marketplace Program, which provides financing to developers for the creation of affordable apartments reserved for households earning no more than $42,540 for a family of four.

In addition to building affordable rental apartments in the Bronx, Jackson Development is constructing affordable condominiums and two- and three-family homes available to the general public.The company recently completed and sold out 28 condominium units at Nelson Avenue and 168th Street. The units are 1,100 square feet and were sold for between $235,000 and $250,000. The company is building a total of 96 condominium units at four other sites in the Bronx on Crotona, Heath, and Segdwick avenues and Kingsbridge Road. All of the units will be 1,100 square feet and are expected to be sold for prices ranging between $250,000 and $275,000. Jackson Development is also building in the Bronx a total of 70 two- and threefamily homes with prices ranging from $550,000 to $645,000.

Last month, HDC also approved financing under the LAMP program for Villa Avenue Apartments at 3121 Villa Ave. at East 204th Street in the Bedford Park neighborhood to be developed by Atlantic Development Group. Later this year, the first residents will move in to Atlantic Development’s affordable building at 33 West End Ave. in Manhattan. Residents must be at least 62 and meet income guidelines and additional selection criteria to qualify. A total of 119 individuals will be afforded the opportunity to rent an apartment at a rent of $616 a month. The residents’ total annual income must range from $24,640 to $29,760. The company also is completing a 12-unit building at 231 E. 77th St. on the Upper East Side. Apartments will rent for $837 a month for a studio and $895 for a one bedroom. The total annual income range for an applicant must be between $35,150 and $45,360. Later this year, 136 families will be able to rent affordable apartments in two new buildings developed in Manhattan by Atlantic Development. A total of 91 apartments will be available at a 33-story building at 1 E. 35th St. and there will be 45 units in the 19- story tower at 1115 First Ave. Units are available to individuals and families earning less than 60% of area median income, which is presently $70,900 for a family of four.

The Hudson Companies, an active participant in HPD’s New Home Program for more than 20 years, is currently completing a development of 112 houses in the Edgemere neighborhood of the Rockaways. All of the houses in Ocean View Villas are under contract for sale. There are 82 one-family and 30 two-family houses. The prices of one-family houses range from $175,000 to $235,000 and the two-family houses range from $266,000 and $350,000. Purchasers must have incomes between $35,000 and $71,000 and need possess only 3% of the purchase price in order to purchase.

“The option of owning one’s own home in New York City has long been an impossible reach for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers,” a principal at the Hudson Companies, Alan Bell, said. “With the run-up in housing prices, this has become even more difficult. Affordable homeownership is not just good for the proud purchasers, it is the most direct and least expensive way to create desirable communities that will attract new private investment.”

Phipps Houses, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit developers, owners, and managers of affordable housing, plans to build as many as 1,800 additional units of housing by year end. Seven projects totaling 425 units are currently under construction. Over the next three years, it plans to build between 300 and 500 units. The new rental units will be located in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn.

Another active participant in providing affordable housing is Dunn Development Corporation. Within four months, 128 units will be available in the Highbridge and Morris Heights sections of the Bronx.A total of 33 units be will available at the end of the year on Myrtle Avenue in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn. Last month, Dunn, in collaboration with Ron Moelis, broke ground for 113 units at Palmers Dock on Kent Avenue at the Williamsburg waterfront section of Brooklyn. Over the next 18 months, the company is to begin construction of more than 700 units of affordable housing in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Despite all the construction, the hole in the bottom of the bucket is huge and shows no signs of getting smaller. Even with efforts to plug the holes, government and private developers must work together to help alleviate the serious problem of a lack of affordable housing.

Mr. Stoler is a television broadcaster and a vice president at a major title insurance company. He can be reached at mstoler@newyorkrealestatetv.com.