Truly affordable housing only exists where there is an abundance of housing. Tokyo offers a great example. They simplified their zoning rules and let developers build relatively unencumbered and now they have some of the lowest rents among the world’s global cities.
We should adopt Tokyo’s model: make it easier to build throughout the city, particularly in the outer boroughs and core areas close to people’s jobs and major mass transit junctions. If we don’t do this, we’re closing the city off to the next generation of New Yorkers.
We should pick a housing unit production goal and coordinate our city agencies to make sure we’re meeting it. I think fifty thousand new units per year would be a good start. Let’s do it!
To increase equitable housing options, we need to expand the capacity of community land trusts and encourage nonprofit developers to build more and larger projects. The growth of these community and nonprofit models must happen WHILE we’re also building more market-rate units.
For NYCHA, we need to put people over politics and do what’s best for residents. RAD conversions that allow NYCHA to move responsibility for maintaining and operating housing to private companies that specialize in residential property management is working well. We should accelerate RAD conversions so that NYCHA residents can have better apartments. We should also raise more money for NYCHA by pursuing infill development, particularly when that development replaces parking lots in NYCHA complexes.