The Big City's Big Problem

MIDDLE-INCOME HOUSING

THE middle-income city dweller A is a forgotten man. His income, $6,000 to $9,000 a year in New York and other big cities, is high enough to bar him from public housing but too low for luxury apartments. High-rental apartments continue to rise, and low-income projects spread by the acre, but building for the urban middle-income group has stopped almost entirely. Such families are often forced to settle for poor housing or pay rents —way above 25% of income—which they cannot afford. Said the Senate Committee on Banking: "Housing available or in prospect for families in the middle-income group is...