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COMMUNITY OP-ED APRIL 03, 2023 | The Indian Eye 12

Thinking Outside the Box

on Affordable Housing

People say New York City doesn’t have enough space for new housing—but there’s space everywhere if you look
hard enough. Since the pandemic, we’ve seen office buildings lying empty or entire floors that are vacant

ERIC ADAMS

ast year, we declared that New
York City would lead the way
Lon housing in America. Our The objective of the Housing Our Neighbors plan is to get New Yorkers into safe and stable homes more quickly (File photo)
city must remain a place where every
day New Yorkers can find and afford
a place to live. We have set a moon- Neighbors plan to get New Yorkers chul. She has included a number of that make office conversions nearly
shot goal of building 500,000 new into safe and stable homes more key investments and policies in her impossible, and remove the state cap
homes for New Yorkers over the next quickly. And we launched our Get proposed budget that will help us that prevents us from building more
decade—and to achieve this goal we Stuff Built plan to speed up con- address the housing crisis. These housing in midtown Manhattan. We
must fight for new housing, new zon- struction of new housing in all five investments and policies need to be will also be pushing for an incentive
ing, and innovation. boroughs. included in the final budget that will to help property owners make much
People say New York City But we’ve said from the begin- be passed by the state in the coming needed repairs in exchange for keep-
doesn’t have enough space for new ning that we cannot solve this prob- weeks. ing homes affordable far into the fu-
housing—but there’s space every- lem without help from New York As state lawmakers consider the ture.
where if you look hard enough. Since State. That’s why we are so grateful budget, we will continue to make our We have already been talking to
the pandemic, we’ve seen office for the partnership of Governor Ho- case for Albany to eliminate rules our partners in the State legislature
buildings lying empty or entire floors in Albany. Without their assistance,
that are vacant. We can convert we simply will not be able to build
those existing spaces into homes that affordable housing at the rate we
New Yorkers earning a wide range of need. But if we work together, we
incomes can afford. can get critical support for NYCHA
Converting vacant offices into residents, create a pathway to safety
apartments will bring life back to our for dangerous basement and cellar
business districts and allow people to apartments, and make a number of
live close to where they work. The other important changes and invest-
“New” New York Action plan, which ments in the affordability of our city.
Governor Hochul and I introduced During the 20s, we built 750,000
last year, calls for office conversions new homes—more than three times
to revitalize our downtowns and the number of homes built over the
keep our city vibrant. past 10 years. We can do it again. We
Additionally, we have made af- must do it again for the sake New
fordable housing a central part of our The “New” New York Action plan calls for office conversions to revitalize our downtowns and York City and of all New Yorkers.
working people’s agenda. keep our city vibrant Eric Adams is
We released our Housing Our the Mayor of New York City, NY

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