This is something I've been trying to understand for a long time. In New York City because of the rent controls it seems like the market rate has diverged alarm

This is something I've been trying to understand for a long time. In New York City because of the rent controls it seems like the market rate has diverged alarmingly from the subsidized rents. From my perspective it seems like this propagates the "Tale of Two Cities" and makes it a much wider leap to go from rent-control or subsidized housing to market-rate. In my naive opinion it seems like in a system without all of the controls in place there may be a more even spectrum of price points and make jumping to the next level of housing easier. There are other forces at play here too such as foreign buyers speculating on the Manhattan Condo market, look no further then the foreclosure at One57 penthouse to show how it has gotten. I think building more housing at all levels is the best way to solve the affordability crisis, but naturally the higher-end of the market would be built out first due to developers wanting to cater to the highest bidder. The cities current approach of providing tax-incentives to developers to allot a certain portion of housing to affordable housing is seemingly a good strategy to tackle the problem of affordable housing as well as integration.