On April 25, 2024, the Department of City Planning announced an update to the DCP Housing Database for 2023. The agency also launched two interactive tools, one showing total housing production over time and by borough here, and another showing the 2023 figures by community district here.
According to the update, 27,980 new homes were constructed citywide last year, a slight decrease from 2022. Only 16,356 new homes were permitted, which is the lowest number of homes permitted since 2016. The decline of new homes permitted also follows the end of the 421-a tax incentive program; in 2016, a previous version of 421-a had also recently expired. In the newest state budget approved earlier this week, a new successor tax benefit program, 485-x, was created.
The distribution of housing built was very uneven in 2023, with ten community districts producing as much housing as the other 49 districts. The top ten districts were Bronx 1, 4, 5, 7; Brooklyn 1, 2, 5, 8; and Queens 1 and 2. The Bronx had 35 percent of new completed housing, surpassing Brooklyn for the first time in many years. According to the data, 39 of the 195 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas saw fewer than ten new homes built in 2023, and another ten lost housing last year. The neighborhoods that lost housing include Midtown-Turtle Bay, Windsor Terrace-South Slope, Maspeth, and Brighton Beach.
The data arrives as the Department of City Planning is planning to launch the proposed City of Yes for Housing Opportunity text amendment. One of three City of Yes amendments, the Housing Opportunity amendment aims to eliminate outdated or unnecessary provisions within the zoning text that inhibit the production of housing. A draft of the amendment was released by the Department of City Planning earlier this month. The text amendment is expected to enter the public review process this spring.
Department of City Planning Director Dan Garodnick stated, “New York City is producing far less housing than needed, and the housing that is being built is concentrated in just a few neighborhoods. This imbalance is at the root of much of our housing crisis, and is driving up the cost of rent, exacerbating the imbalance of power between landlords and tenants, and forcing working New Yorkers out of our city. It’s long past time that we tear down the invisible walls that hold back housing production in some parts of the city and build a little more housing in every neighborhood with City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the Editor of CityLand and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)