Mayor Adams Issues Order Requiring City Agencies to Review City Owned and Controlled Land for Potential Housing Development Sites

Part of Adams Administration’s Pledge to Use Every Possible Tool to Create More Affordable Housing and Deliver 500,000 New Housing Units by 2032

Our Bureau
New York, NY

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced the issuance of executive order 43 requiring city agencies to review their city owned and controlled land for potential housing development sites. As New York City faces a generational affordable housing crisis with just a 1.4 percent rental vacancy rate, the Adams administration is proposing bold, forward-thinking solutions and using every possible tool available to deliver the affordable housing that New Yorkers need. The executive order will help support the Adams administration’s bold “moonshot” goal of building 500,000 new homes by 2032.

“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,” said Mayor Adams. “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.”

“Today, we take a significant step forward in our mission to tackle New York City’s housing crisis head-on,” said First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright. “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.”

“Today, this administration doubles down on its commitment to address the city’s historically low 1.4 percent vacancy rate and use every tool in our toolkit to deliver the housing New Yorkers deserve,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer. “Building off our ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ proposal and wins in Albany to increase housing production, this whole of government response will allow us to develop underutilized land. I’m grateful for every agency doing their part.”

“The mayor’s executive action announced today will add to our administration’s short-, medium-, and long-term strategies to tackle the city’s housing issues,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. “We’re helping more people than ever access CityFHEPS vouchers, streamlining our regulatory architecture to help build a little more housing in every borough, and, with this executive order, evaluating all sites owned by the city for potential inclusion in our affordable housing efforts. Ultimately, every individual, family, and child deserves a permanent home and this administration will use every tool to make that goal a reality.”

Effective immediately, the executive order establishes the City Housing Activation Task Force, with representatives from mayoral agencies and other public entities. The task force 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. All locations that can be used to further housing production or on adjacent or nearby sites without disruption to critical municipal operations will be considered.

“As our city faces a critical affordable housing shortage, we are proud to be part of this innovative, all-of-city approach to tackling the problem,” said New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services Commissioner Louis A. Molina. “Through an intensive review of city-owned and controlled land, we’re committed to leveraging every asset at our disposal to contribute to this ambitious goal of 500,000 new homes by 2032 and support this bold vision to ensure that every New Yorker has access to affordable housing.”

“Housing is essential to good health,” said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD. “NYC Health + Hospitals’ Housing for Health initiative will create over 650 new affordable homes on hospital land. We are grateful to Mayor Adams for expanding this effort to all city-owned land to help even more New Yorkers find home.”