De Blasio Proposes Housing Plan Focused on Affordability

Amid the community churches and boutique cupcake shops of a gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood, Bill de Blasio, a candidate for mayor, on Thursday proposed a housing plan in response to what he described as a “growing crisis of affordability” in New York City.

Mr. de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, called for 100,000 affordable homes for low-income New Yorkers to be built over the next 10 years, and a similar number of existing housing units to be preserved. He also proposed to dedicate $1 billion from the city’s pension fund investments to affordable housing, and to make it mandatory for developers in rezoned areas to include affordable housing in any new project, or to contribute to a fund for such homes.

“The real estate industry will be crucial to this equation, but the city has to steer the ship, not the industry, if we are going to create the affordability that we desperately need,” he said. “We want to get a lot more back for the public.”

Mr. de Blasio’s focus on citywide housing, his choice of Williamsburg as a backdrop for his announcement, and his repeated criticisms of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg were tailored to fit what has become his candidacy’s theme, that New York has become a “tale of two cities,” divided between rich and poor.

Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, is vying for his party’s nomination with several other current and former city officials, including Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker; John C. Liu, the current comptroller; and William C. Thompson Jr., a former comptroller. The primary is Sept. 10, and, if necessary, a runoff will be on Sept. 24; the winner will face the Republican nominee in the general election, on Nov. 5.

On the campaign trail Mr. de Blasio has sought to portray himself as a candidate for all five boroughs, and has derided Ms. Quinn as a Manhattan-focused candidate too close to real estate developers.

Barbara Garner, 56, a resident of the Williamsburg street where Mr. de Blasio spoke, said that while she preferred Mr. Thompson as a candidate, she agreed with Mr. de Blasio’s message that developers must provide more inexpensive homes.

“I think he’s a good candidate, I do, but they are all good when they are talking the talk,” Ms. Garner said. “What happens when the race is over? Are they going to live up to their promises?”