In a speech today to the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced that his New Housing Marketplace Plan has revised its budget upwards by about $1 billion to $8.5 billion. The affordable housing program, which has a goal of creating 165,000 units of affordable housing in the city by 2014. was announced in 2002 and expanded in 2006.

"Even in the best of financial times," he said, "creating and preserving affordable housing in New York City is a challenge. And these are, as we all know too well, far from the best of times. The collapse of the housing market - the dramatic trigger for the worldwide financial meltdown of 2008 - has, thankfully, not been as disastrous here as in many other parts of the U.S. But it's certainly been bad enough. The private market financing so many of your organizations rely on to fund low-income housing development has dried up."

"Despite signs of hope in the economy, here and nationally," he continued, "foreclosure activity, particularly in Southeast Queens, Central Brooklyn, and other communities, is on the rise. Many apartment buildings bought at steeply inflated, speculative prices are now in financial distress and at risk of landlord neglect - jeopardizing the well-being of tens of thousands of tenants. And unemployment, depleted savings, and rising debts have combined in a perfect storm, threatening many New Yorkers who've worked hard to be part of the great American dream of homeownership with the loss of their homes."

Mr. Bloomberg noted that since 2002 the city had funded the creation and preservation of nearly 100,000 units of affordable housing throughout the five boroughs, "enough to shelter the entire population of Pittsburgh."

"In no small part because of those efforts," Mr. Bloomberg maintained, "the most recent independent housing survey mandated by our City Charter rates our housing stock in better condition than at any time on record. And the supply of housing has also reached record levels, outpacing the rate of our population growth. During 2009 - one of the worst years in housing in a very long time - New York City still created and preserved 12,500 units of affordable housing - almost as many as the entire State of California accomplished during that same period."

Given the present financial crisis, will the city have to scale back its affordable housing plans?

"I'm here today to give you a one-word answer: Fuhgeddaboudit. We're not cutting back. We're not turning back. We're still on course to hit our affordable housing targets on time," Mr. Bloomberg maintained.

The city, he said, is going to "lock in affordability in housing - for terms of at least 30 years, and in some cases longer - throughout the city, for more and more New Yorkers. We are, for example, seizing this moment to make owners of Mitchell-Lama developments in our city an offer we hope they won't refuse: the offer of low-cost financing, in return for guarantees to keep their stock of housing affordable for middle-class New Yorkers. Our goal is to ensure that every existing Mitchell-Lama development - all of which seemed imperiled just a few years ago - remains safely in the affordable housing fold."

In cases where buildings are suffering disinvestment and neglect, and the health and safety of the tenants is put in jeopardy, the city recently announced it was creating a $750 million fund for the rescue of such distressed apartment buildings.

"The City's housing finance agency, the Housing Development Corporation," according to Mr. Bloomberg, "is providing $550 million - the lion's share of those funds....HDC's financial resources have actually grown in value right through the recession, even as they've also helped us create thousands of units of affordable housing. The value of HDC's assets has increased from $8 billion to $10 billion during the past two very difficult years."