NYC Sets Housing ‘Moonshot’ Of 500K New Homes In Next Decade: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — Building 500,000 new homes in New York City over the next decade will be the city’s equivalent of landing on the Moon, Mayor Eric Adams said.

Adams unveiled an ambitious housing plan Thursday dubbed "Get Stuff Built" that aims to address a growing crisis: there simply aren't enough places for city dwellers to live.

The three-part plan calls for more than 100 reforms that could speed up new construction, shepherding two major neighborhood planning efforts in Brooklyn and The Bronx, and working with city, state and federal leaders to advance changes to housing laws.

"This is our mission, our moonshot,” Adams said.

New York City's housing crisis comes down to basic math, in Adams' telling.

He said the city's population swelled by 800,000 people in the past decade, but only added 200,000 new homes.

"We have more people than homes," he said. "This shortage gives landlords the power to charge any price they want and leaves too many New Yorkers with no place to go."

Building construction could be sped up by 50 percent if city agencies tweak regulations, such as exempting small housing projects from lengthy environmental reviews that almost always show no problems for those type of projects, according to the plan.

The city can not only cut project times in half, but also save $2 billion, said deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer.

"What that unlocks, if we can build as fast as we want to through this plan, are 50,000 additional new homes over the course of the next decade," she said.

Adams also voiced support for the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan that could bring thousands of new homes to Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights. He said the city will also work to build as many as 6,000 new homes near soon-to-open Metro-North stations in The Bronx.

The plan's third plank calls for changes — such as legalizing basement apartments and converting obsolete office buildings into housing — that require support from lawmakers at the city and state level.

And it appears one prominent politician is ready to be an ally. Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a statement in support of Adams' plan shortly after his address Thursday.

"With our state staring down a housing crisis, we will need every community, every town, and every city to do its part to make housing accessible and affordable for all," she said. "My administration is ready to meet the housing crisis head-on in partnership with Mayor Adams and other local and state officials, and I look forward to sharing our proposals to unlock New York's housing potential in my State of the State address."