By Steve Wishnia

The best time for housing in New York was the post-World War II period, says Renee Keitt, head of the tenant association at the Elliott-Chelsea Houses in Manhattan. It was the era when more than two-thirds of the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) 180,000 apartments were constructed, the state’s Mitchell-Lama program built another 140,000 units designated for working and middle-class residents, and union-backed developments added thousands more.