Many residing in New York will tell visitors that the housing situations can be hectic. Acquiring a desirable option can sometimes be challenging. The high prices of real estate are a barrier for several. A project known as My Micro NY is an upcoming project that may be one resolution for this issue. With this program, living units are being constructed with the intention of assembling them in lower Manhattan. The key point about these units is that they are smaller than the typical New York studio.

The size of these apartments will be somewhere between 250 and 350 square feet. Under normal circumstances, city zoning codes would have denied the formation of a space that small. Nonetheless, the city made an exception for this project. Units will be able to house from one to two people.

Studio apartments in the lower manhattan area have been known to go for $3,000 to $3,200. The My Micro NY rent will be around that price with 40% of the units having the opportunity for more affordable pricing based on income. Tobias Oriwol of Monadnock Development stated that, “The whole point is making studios affordable to people who right now would be living in a converted or shared situation, which they wouldn’t do if they could afford to live elsewhere.” A goal of New York City’s mayor, Bill DeBlasio is to create 200,000 housing units with a higher level of affordability. This came about due to the increase in rent across the city. Between 2000 and 2012, rental costs rose by 75%.

Mimi Hoang of nARCHITECTS decided to implement some features in the apartment that would feel better despite what is lost with the lack of size. Larger sized windows and 10 foot high ceilings are a few helpful additions. She states that light and air are the two components that one gains in a micro sized space. Why not capitalize on it and gain a sense of the surrounding street life in the process.