New York City needs to build 700,000 new housing units over the next 10 years, the Mamdani administration said Wednesday, a figure larger than previous estimates. Meeting that goal would require the city to hit very ambitious construction targets.
The report, the first to be issued under a 2023 City Council law requiring regular housing estimates, also reiterates the administration’s goal of 200,000 new, below-market affordable apartments over the next decade, which it set in its “Block by Block” policy announced earlier this year.
Construction in low-density neighborhoods that have not built much affordable housing will be key. The report notes it will soon assign non-binding growth targets to neighborhoods and ask lagging areas to contribute to meeting New York’s burgeoning demand.
This fall, under charter changes approved by voters last year, the city is required to identify the 12 neighborhoods that have built the least affordable housing. Affordable projects in those areas now get a 90-day review process — instead of seven months — and can be approved by the City Planning Commission without a vote by the Council.
“This new report sets an ambitious citywide target for new housing production that recognizes the scale of the housing crisis,” said Brendan Cheney, director of operations and policy for the New York Housing Conference, an advocacy group.
“And the targets for housing growth in all neighborhoods are also pretty ambitious, especially lower density and lower growth neighborhoods,” Cheney said. “It looks like it is really pushing all communities to add housing and contribute to the solution.”
Meanwhile, other groups used the announcement to push their key priorities.
The New York Apartment Association issued a press release calling attention to its plan to provide a rent increase for the 60,000 apartments currently vacant because landlords say they can’t afford to make them habitable after a long-term tenant leaves.
The Real Estate Board of New York focused on that issue and the 485-x property tax break whose requirements for union labor on larger projects has resulted in developers building only 99-unit buildings.
If New York is serious about producing 700,000 new homes, policymakers must confront the issues still holding housing back, including fixing 485-x and returning vacant rent-regulated apartments to the market,” board President James Whelan said.
“The question is no longer whether we need more housing,” Whelan added. “The question is whether government is willing to make it possible to build it.”
Our nonprofit newsroom relies on donations from readers to sustain our local reporting and keep it free for all New Yorkers. Donate to THE CITY today.
The post Mamdani Administration Says NYC Needs to Build 700,000 New Housing Units in the Next Decade appeared first on The City Reporter.
