Amid Affordability Crisis, NYC Housing Adviser Opts For Advocacy

NEW YORK CITY — A veteran housing official is leaving Mayor Eric Adams' administration amid an affordable housing crisis she hopes to combat on the state level.

Annemarie Gray, a City Hall land use advisor whose tenure dates back to the de Blasio administration, will be the new executive director of Open New York, the prominent pro-housing group announced Monday.

Gray said her role handling zoning issues across New York City showed her how a "small, but vocal minority" of people can weaponize the system to stymy local affordable housing projects, which she hopes to fight for in Albany.

"Building more housing should not be controversial," she said. "Housing touches every single issue we see, so there's just so much potential for this to be a much broader, really inclusive coalition that's shifting the narrative around all of these things."

New York City has seen new housing production fall far behind other major cities such as Seattle and Washington, D.C., in the past decade, according to a Citizens Budget Commission study.

The study pinned the slowdown on, among other factors, restrictive zoning rules, out-dated building codes and a "distortionary, opaque, and inequitable property tax system" that taxes multifamily buildings at a higher rate than similar multifamily housing.

All those factors have helped lead to a shortage of affordable housing within the city, which now has the ignominious distinction of having the most expensive rent in the nation.

A recent analysis found that the typical two-bedroom in the city cost $4,400 in August, roughly 50 percent higher than the same month last year.

Some neighborhood efforts to build affordable housing have run into intense local opposition, often deemed "Not In My Backyard" — or NIMBY — by pro-housing groups.

One proposed project in Harlem, for example, that received fierce pushback by some residents and City Councilmember Kristin Richardson Jordan eventually was scrapped in favor of building a truck stop.

Gray, who helped shepherd the Gowanus and SoHo/Noho rezonings under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, said much local opposition comes down to people who think current tenants' rights and the need for new housing are at odds.

According to Gray, they're not.

Gray argues advocates need to build coalitions that push for change at a broader scope that encompasses both the local and state level, she said.

"I think Open New York has been just really at the forefront of how we push these issues of a progressive approach to housing, including creating all forms of it," she said.

"And really addressing the rent pressures and housing instability that New Yorkers are feeling and really not being shy about showing up and really fighting for the types of projects we need to see more of."

Gray said her new role won't just involved continuing to advocate for local housing, but also statewide policies — such as a "fair share" process that makes sure all neighborhoods do their part to address the housing process — that can make it easier to build developments.

Open New York has received $500,000 from Open Philanthropy, a nonprofit funded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, to boost double its statewide advocacy, according to the group. The nonprofit given $1.5 million in total to Open New York.

Gray will officially leave the city's government this week and start her new role next month.