For much of its history, New York City has thrived as a place that both sus- tained a large middle class and elevated countless people from poorer back- grounds into the ranks of the middle class. The city was never cheap and parts of Manhattan always remained out of reach, but working people of modest means—from forklift operators and bus drivers to paralegals and museum guides—could enjoy realistic hopes of home ownership and a mea- sure of economic security as they raised their families acros