New Yorkers appear to agree on something: our city desperately needs more housing.<\/p>\n
For years, conversations about the housing crisis were dominated by debates over affordability, zoning, financing, and neighborhood character. Meanwhile, housing production slowed, affordable developments stalled, and the gap between supply and demand widened. The result has been a city where too many families, workers, and young people struggle to afford rent.<\/p>\n
That growing consensus marks an important turning point, one that Mayor Mamdani reinforced last week in his draft Fair Housing Growth Strategy<\/a> calling for 700,000\u00a0new\u00a0affordable homes. But it also raises an important question: where should all this\u00a0new\u00a0housing\u00a0go?\u00a0The answer is simple: everywhere.<\/p>\n No neighborhood should be expected to solve the housing crisis on its own. Every community has a responsibility to help create the affordable homes New Yorkers need.\u00a0This isn\u2019t a radical idea. In fact, it\u2019s how\u00a0New\u00a0York used to approach\u00a0housing.<\/p>\n In the 1940s, as returning veterans and the baby boom fueled demand, we built more than 150,000 homes across the city, including iconic developments such as Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village, and Parkchester. During the housing crisis of the 1960s and 1970s, city, state, and federal leaders created landmark housing programs and invested in transformative housing developments throughout the five boroughs. Many of those communities, like Co-op City, Starrett City, and Rochdale Village, continue to provide affordable housing today.<\/p>\n The lesson is clear: New York made progress because it treated affordable housing as a citywide priority.\u00a0Unfortunately, that\u2019s no longer the case.<\/p>\n Affordable\u00a0housing\u00a0production is\u00a0increasingly concentrated<\/a> in lower-income neighborhoods, while wealthier communities add fewer affordable homes. Neighborhoods like Fordham in the Bronx and East New York in Brooklyn are asked to shoulder the city\u2019s housing needs, while large portions of Manhattan and Northeast Queens are largely off the hook.<\/p>\n The reasons are understandable. Land costs are significantly higher in these neighborhoods, making affordable\u00a0housing\u00a0more difficult to finance. Yet these are precisely the communities where affordable\u00a0housing\u00a0is needed most.<\/p>\n Building in high-cost neighborhoods isn\u2019t easy, but it\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n In Midtown Manhattan, Slate Property Group is transforming\u00a0the now-shuttered Stewart Hotel<\/a> into a one-of-a-kind affordable and supportive housing development. In Williamsburg \u2014 one of Brooklyn\u2019s fastest-growing and most expensive neighborhoods \u2014 we\u2019re working on two affordable and supportive housing developments<\/a> that will create 312 permanently affordable homes.<\/p>\n