New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a new “block by block” initiative to tackle the city’s affordable housing crisis Tuesday morning. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Affordable housing<\/a>\u00a0has been a top priority for Mamdani, who has previously called it New York City’s number one crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n CBS News New York<\/a> carried the mayor’s announcement live at 10:30 a.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking in Brooklyn Tuesday morning, Mamdani said “when New Yorkers can afford a home, they can afford to dream.”\u00a0<\/p>\n He said finding affordable housing is “nearly impossible,” calling it the “single largest driver of the affordability crisis.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “For centuries, New York City built enough housing to keep pace with our population growth, until the 1960s,” Mamdani said. “Over the past the 60 years, however, government helped create the housing crisis we now face through a series of choices.”<\/p>\n “If the absence of good government created the conditions we now face, the presence of good government can build the solutions we now need,” Mamdani said.\u00a0<\/p>\n What’s more, earlier this month, the mayor announced a plan to cut red tape<\/a> involved in finding an affordable home.\u00a0<\/p>\n Citing\u00a0affordable housing<\/a>\u00a0as New York City’s number one crisis, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a plan Wednesday to cut red tape and make it easier for city residents to find a home. Some seven million applications are filed for just 10,000 apartments – and\u00a0red tape<\/a>\u00a0can keep those apartments empty for months.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mamdani’s previously announced housing reforms plan includes, among other reforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reducing by as much as two years the timeline for projects that require zoning changesCutting the time for permitting office building to residential conversion by five monthsOverhauling the city’s housing lottery system<\/p>\n Housing advocates have expressed enthusiasm for Mamdani’s proposed reforms.<\/p>\n Check back soon for more on this developing story.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n