Brooklyn Housing Facts
Brooklyn has the greatest share of New York City’s population — nearly
2.5 million people, 30 percent of all New Yorkers. One-third of families
with children under 5 years of age live below the poverty level. Brooklyn
has one of the lowest vacancy rates and one of the highest percentages of
households (26.5 percent) that spend more than 50 percent of their income
for rent.
The Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, in particular, has an immediate
need for decent, affordable housing. Residents of this neighborhood spend 32.9
percent of their income on housing, compared to the city average of 27.4 percent.
In 2000, Jimmy Carter came to Bedford-Stuyvesant to help build homes for 12 Habitat-NYC
family partners. Habitat-NYC has completed more than 30 homes in the Bedford-Stuyvesant
neighborhood, creating a community of Habitat-NYC homeowners.
