Construction is underway at East 86th Street on a 99-unit building developed by Chess Builders (Credit: Shivangi Sen)
On 86th Street in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the developer Chess Builders is planning to build two side-by-side 99-unit buildings. In Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill, Goose Properties has planned three 99-unit buildings. In downtown Brooklyn, The Jay Group wants to build two 99-unit buildings.
This trend of 99-unit buildings is no coincidence. The Affordable Neighborhoods for New Yorkers Act (ANNY Act), passed as a part of the 2024-25 state budget, was designed to encourage construction of affordable housing and ensure that construction workers earn fair wages.
Developers, however, have found a major loophole: Projects with fewer than 100 residential units can pay their workers as little as $16.50 an hour, while developments with 100 units or more must pay a minimum of $40 an hour. This disparity in mandated minimum wage has led many developers to plan many projects with just 99 units.
The move has left some construction workers feeling cheated.
“It is unfair and an injustice to us. We work so hard on these projects and they don’t want to pay the right wages,” said construction worker William Hall.
This Act was proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul who said that it would “revolutionize the housing landscape” and put “working families first.” Her office did not respond to a request for comment about the loophole.
State Sen. Cordell Cleare, who represents Harlem and Morningside Heights, was among the first to oppose the ANNY Act. She calls it an “unwise, untargeted, overly generous, developer-side enrichment plan” that does not provide a “single unit of permanently affordable housing.”
“I adamantly opposed it at every turn for reasons that are now becoming apparent to others,” she said in an email interview.
Cleare said that developers ought to ensure great-paying jobs at all stages of construction. “Everyone deserves a living wage, and such loopholes are counterproductive and unconscionable,” Cleare said.
Enforcement of the wage rules is up to the city comptroller. The office declined to comment.
An analysis by the Real Estate Board of New York shows developers filed 28 permits for exactly 99 units between the second half of 2024 and first two quarters of 2025. This is more than double the number of permits filed for this request in the past 16 years. Sixteen such projects were filed in the first few months of 2025, immediately after the legislation went into effect.
Workers rally to demand implementation of Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa’s legislation. (Credit: Siddharth Kejriwal)
City Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa, who represents Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill, has proposed legislation that would require housing developers to pay workers a wage and benefits package of $40 per hour, which would include a minimum wage of $25.
Fraynette Familia, spokesperson for De La Rosa, said that construction workers need support.
“Why is it that whenever we talk about the cost of affordable housing, the thing that people want to analyze is the salary of the workers who are building the affordable housing?” said Familia.
“It’s really unfortunate that a lot of these folks are being exploited. They too are facing housing insecurity.”
About the author(s)
Shivangi Sen is a multimedia journalist and Columbia Journalism School student in the Stabile (investigative) program with experience spanning India, the UK, and the US.