The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) currently determines Area Median Income for New York City as a single geographic unit. In recent years, New York City has contained both the wealthiest and the poorest census tracts in the United States. This extreme variation can skew income data that is collected and could adversely affect households in communities that have a significantly lower AMI than that of the City as a whole. In determining a household's eligibility for housing programs, several programs utilize AMI in their threshold calculations. Often these programs are intended to assist low- and middle-income households.
HUD should explore whether it could implement a community-based calculation of AMI and what impact it would have on affordable housing