NYC to Run New Affordable Housing Insurance Program

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday announced a new insurance program that looks to reduce the cost of property and liability insurance for affordable housing and rent-stabilized housing.

An inter-agency working group comprised of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Housing Development Corporation and Housing Preservation and Development will manage the selection and partnership of the insurance program, which aims to issue new insurance policies for 20,000 homes next year and 100,000 homes by 2030, officials said.

The program will be self-sustaining over time and will help the city subsidize more affordable housing and support housing and property owners with rising costs by addressing a major cost driver: the price of insurance has more than tripled since 2017.

The skyrocketing cost of insurance has hit affordable and rent-stabilized housing particularly hard, and every $100 increase in insurance costs requires $1,200 more in city capital in new transactions, according to officials. To address these rising costs, broaden the reach of the city's affordable housing subsidy, and help building operators make repairs, the city will hire independent actuarial experts to design and launch a new insurance program that will begin offering coverage in 2027.

"We cannot take on the housing crisis without confronting one of the fastest-growing costs facing New Yorkers: insurance. That's why we're creating the first city-backed insurance program -- to help New Yorkers stay in their homes, give building owners the support they need to make repairs, and build a city that New Yorkers can actually afford," Mamdani said in a statement.

HDC will issue a Request for Proposals for an actuary or risk consultant that will provide expertise to design the program, and by the summer, the EDC will issue a Request for Expression of Interest to solicit proposals for how best to structure and operate this insurance program.

By 2027, the city expects to lower cost of insurance policies for the first 20,000 homes, and new insurance policies are poised to be available to 100,000 homes by 2030.