For too long, New Yorkers have suffered in the throes of a burgeoning housing crisis as one residential project after the next falls victim to delays caused by NIMBYism, political opposition and a years-long land entitlement process. The timeline to build housing in our city is fundamentally misaligned with the urgent need, as the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelter census swells toward 60,000.
Lawmakers on the left are fierce critics of the real estate industry. But some are embracing new housing development, even if it’s not fully affordable.
Last week, Councilwoman Marjorie Velázquez was in Errol Louis’ hot seat on NY1. He asked her why she’s dead set against a modest rezoning of a corner of Bruckner Blvd. in her district, delivering a few hundred apartments to a swath of the Bronx that produced a pitiful 58 units of affordable housing from 2014-21.
Let critics continue to throw shade at California; America’s most populous state is reckoning honestly with the fact that the cost of housing there is disgustingly high, putting growing strains on the backs of middle-class families and feeding homelessness in major cities. The latest salvo, legislation signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, will create more places for people to live using tools New York State and City, plagued by many of the same affordability problems, should emulate.