>NYC has created over 1 million jobs in the past decade. They've built only 400,000 housing units in that time. Less than 1 housing unit for every 5 jobs created.

Your math aint mathing... 1 million jobs, 400K housing units means 1 housing unit for every 2.5 jobs created. So, half as bad as you posited. And, considering that the average NYC household consists of 2.63 people (source), your stats are not as damning as you seem to believe. There is no question that NYC is not building enough housing, but one has to also dive into this a bit more carefully to understand how that is the case considering that the numbers being cited don't make that argument persuasively. What is happening is that the household size figure is distorted by some larger families and households in lower economic rungs, as well as by ethnic groups and such. CUNY publishes a very interesting breakdown and analysis of housing stats in NYC. In any case, most of the new construction being built is targeted at groups that often live alone, or with another person (couples with no kids) and so the 400K units being mentioned are probably housing a number closer to something like 800K people, leaving the rest to be absorbed by neighboring towns.