Mayor Eric Adams. Photo Credit: facebook.com/NYCMayor
On August 21, 2024, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the issuance of Executive Order 43, which requires City agencies to review their city-owned and controlled land to determine which sites can be appropriate for potential housing development sites. This order is in response to New York City’s affordable housing crisis. The goal of this executive order is to support the Adam’s administration plan of building 500,000 new homes by 2032.
The executive order includes the implementation of the City Housing Activation Task Force. The task force is comprised of representatives from mayoral agencies and other public entities which will review land under the ownership and control of the City to identify potential sites for housing development and develop guidelines to ensure agency policies promote housing production. The locations that will be considered for further housing production are nearby critical municipal operations.
The Adams administration has committed $26 billion in housing capital in the current 10-year plan to address the City’s affordable housing crisis. Last month, Mayor Adams and other critical stakeholders announced a $500 million investment from the Battery Park City Authority’s Joint Purpose Fund to build and maintain affordable housing. This past spring, the City celebrated the largest 100 percent affordable housing project in 40 years with the Willets Point Transformation. Earlier this month, Mayor Adams announced a $4 million state grant, to incentive New York City homeowners to create accessory dwelling units (ADUs) so families can live in the same home rather than seeking out additional housing. Under Mayor Adams’ leadership, the City has advanced two dozen affordable housing projects on city-owned land this year through the “24 in ‘24” initiative; reopened the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program waitlist, and created the Tenant Protection Cabinet to coordinate across agencies to better serve tenants. The City created the “Green Fast Track for Housing,” to streamline the environmental review process for qualifying small- and medium-sized housing projects to speed up the delivery of much-needed housing. The “Office Conversion Accelerator,” assists building owner’s that want to convert through City bureaucracy, and other initiatives of the Building and Land Use Approval Streamlining Taskforce.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said, “If there’s any land within the city’s control that has even the remotest potential to develop affordable housing, our administration will take action. To solve a generational affordable housing crisis, we must bring new innovative ideas to the table and activate all city agencies, whether they are directly involved in creating housing or not, to help deliver for New Yorkers. Today’s executive order is one of the many ways we will continue to exhaust every option to meet this crisis head on and fulfil our pledge of building 500,000 new housing units by 2032.”
First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright said, “Today, we take a significant step forward in our mission to tackle New York City’s housing crisis head-on. By directing city agencies to review and assess all city-owned and controlled land for potential housing development, we are unlocking new opportunities to build more affordable housing where they are needed most. This is a crucial component of our broader strategy to deliver 500,000 new housing units by 2032 and to ensure that every New Yorker has access to safe, affordable housing.”
By: Chelsea Ramjeawan (Chelsea is the CityLaw intern and a New York Law School student, Class of 2025.)