New York City advances plan to build 500,000 new housing units

After New York Mayor Eric Adams announced a “Moonshot” plan to build 500,000 new housing units over the next 10 years in early December, he moved quickly to jumpstart the process.

A week later, the Department of City Planning said it would immediately begin public hearings of a 46-block rezoning of portions of two East Bronx neighborhoods that are close to planned Metro-North rail stations. Speeding up the city’s land use review process is a cornerstone of the housing plan.

The rezoning of industrial and manufacturing areas to residential, and an expected increase in residential density in other parts of the Bronx, would serve neighborhoods surrounding two rail stations projected to open in 2027. “The establishment of new transit service in previously auto-oriented areas demands a thoughtful reorientation of permitted uses and densities to capitalize on the state’s significant investment in regional rail,” according to a Draft Scope of Work for the rezoning proposal.

City officials said that the proposed rezoning in the Bronx is broken into several parcels. This is in synch with the mayor’s pledge not to engage in neighborhood-wide rezoning. Adams also intends to exempt housing projects with fewer than 200 units from environmental reviews, and have the city’s Department of Buildings streamline its computerized permit application and tracking process.

Despite a disruptive pandemic, investor demand for multifamily real estate was strong in 2020, according to a newly released Yardi Matrix Bulletin. Around 252,000 apartment units were absorbed last year. That’s about 1.7% of total market stock and down 12% from the 286,300 apartments purchased in 2019.