The problem begins with millions of apartments grandfathered in to the occupants of rent-controlled, rent-stabilized, and rent subsidized apartments, which takes them all off the market, which shrinks the supply of apartments at market rates, raises the asked-for rents at market rates and helps MANUFACTURE (in addition to the zoning laws) the demand for “affordable” housing.
There is plenty of “affordable housing” in NYC - IF you are already an occupant in one of the rent-controlled apartments. If you are a new resident, or you move within the city, you are chasing after a supply shrunk by the rent-controlled give-aways already occupied.
So the good news is that rent-controlled apartments are cheap. The bad news is that there are none available.
NYC is messed up.