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    North                       The Indian Eye

                              AMERICANNewsline

             12                                                                                                               AUGUST 07, 2026
                              Mayor Mamdani Launches

                   LIFT Tracker to Build Affordable

                           Housing on City-owned Land

                   Administration is advancing more than 50,000 homes across 100 City sites

            OUR BUREAU                                                                                            hood Builders Fast Track programme
                                                                                                                  in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Jerome Av-
            NEW YORK, NY
                                                                                                                  enue in the Bronx and St. Albans in
                   ew York City Mayor Zohran                                                                      Queens are expected to generate up
                  Kwame Mamdani has un-                                                                           to 300 affordable homes, including
            Nveiled an ambitious new ini-                                                                         around 100 affordable homeowner-
            tiative aimed at addressing the city’s                                                                ship opportunities.
            chronic housing shortage by unlocking                                                                     Additional initiatives include
            the potential of publicly owned land.                                                                 plans to redevelop a municipal service
            The newly launched Land Inventory                                                                     centre in Bedford-Stuyvesant into a
            Fast Track (LIFT)  Tracker  provides                                                                  mixed-use project featuring entirely
            the  first  comprehensive  public  data-                                                              affordable housing alongside expand-
            base of city-owned sites earmarked for                                                                ed social services. Financing has also
            affordable housing, offering residents                                                                been completed for the Sol on Park
            an unprecedented window into where                                                                    project, which will create 229 afford-
            and how the city plans to build thou-                                                                 able senior homes on NYCHA’s Mor-
            sands of new homes.                                                                                   ris Houses campus.
                The interactive tracker maps   community infrastructure. The admin- York State lawmakers to modernise   The housing push is backed by
            more than 100 city-owned sites across   istration has committed to maintaining   environmental review procedures, an-  significant  financial  commitments.
            all five boroughs that are expected to   a steady pipeline of projects by issuing   other major hurdle in large-scale ur-  The city’s recently adopted budget
            deliver over 50,000 affordable homes   requests for proposals (RFPs) for at   ban development.        allocates a record USD 22 billion for
            in the coming years. Beyond housing,   least five new public sites every year.  Alongside procedural reforms,  affordable housing over five years, in-
            the platform also identifies opportuni-  Since taking office, the Mayor has   the city has begun advancing a series   cluding nearly USD 5 billion in capital
            ties to integrate public amenities such   moved quickly to reduce the lengthy   of flagship projects.  funding over the next two years. The
            as libraries, community facilities and   approval timelines that have tradi-  Among them is “The Aurea” in   administration is also investing USD
            neighbourhood services into redevel-  tionally slowed affordable housing   Manhattan’s East Village, which will   5.6 billion in the New York City Hous-
            opment projects. The initiative forms a   construction. On his first day in office,  transform a former NYPD parking   ing  Authority  (NYCHA),  represent-
            key pillar of Mayor Mamdani’s broader   he signed Executive Order 4 estab-  lot into approximately 131 affordable   ing one of the largest municipal invest-
            “Block by Block” housing strategy, an   lishing the LIFT Task Force, charged   homes.  In  Queens,  the  city  recent-  ments in public housing in decades.
            ambitious blueprint that seeks to cre-  with identifying city-owned land suit-  ly selected a development team for   Officials say the strategy extends
            ate 200,000 affordable homes over the   able for residential development.  “The Orion,” a project that will deliver   beyond construction. The  adminis-
            next decade while preserving another   The administration has also com-  nearly 1,000 new homes along with   tration has revitalised the Mayor’s
            200,000 existing affordable units. The   pleted  New  York  City’s  first  Expe-  community facilities on a long-vacant   Office to Protect Tenants, introduced
            plan also includes major investments   dited Land Use Review Procedure   site in Hunters Point.       the Rental Ripoff reforms compris-
            in public housing, stronger tenant pro-  (ELURP), a streamlined planning   Brooklyn’s New Utrecht Library   ing  23 policy changes shaped by
            tections and expanded opportunities   mechanism designed to accelerate ap-  is  also  set for redevelopment, com-  tenant feedback, and established the
            for affordable homeownership.     provals for affordable housing on pub-  bining a new public library with 100   city’s  first  Mayor’s  Office  of  Deed
                For a city facing record rents, low   lic land. Combined with the newly in-  per cent affordable housing. Similar   Theft Prevention to safeguard home-
            vacancy rates and growing affordabil-  troduced Neighborhood Builders Fast   mixed-use projects are moving for-  owners from property fraud.
            ity pressures, the administration ar-  Track  programme,  officials  estimate   ward at the Grand Concourse and   Housing agencies have welcomed
            gues that public land represents one   that pre-development timelines could   Bloomingdale  library  sites,  reflect-  the initiative, arguing that the LIFT
            of the few tools directly under munic-  be shortened by as much as two years.  ing the administration’s emphasis on   Tracker brings an unprecedented level
            ipal control that can rapidly increase   Additional reforms under the   combining housing with public ser-  of public accountability to affordable
            housing supply.                   Streamlining Procedures to Expedite   vices rather than treating them as sep-  housing  development.  Planning  offi-
                Mayor Mamdani said the LIFT   Equitable Development (SPEED)     arate investments.                cials believe the combination of great-
            Tracker is intended to improve trans-  initiative seek to simplify administra-  The city has also issued an RFP   er transparency, faster approvals and
            parency by allowing New Yorkers to   tive processes that have long delayed   for redevelopment of the “B-East”  coordinated inter-agency planning
            monitor progress as publicly owned   construction projects. The admin-  site  in  East  Harlem,  while  the  first   could  significantly  accelerate  con-
            land is transformed into housing and   istration has also worked with New   three  projects  under  the  Neighbor-  struction on publicly owned sites.

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