More Housing On City-Owned Land, and What Else Happened This Week in Housing

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration announced two new development projects on city-owned sites, highlighting a recent trend in activating vacant and underutilized public land for housing.

Adams administration officials at 390 Kent Ave., a city-owned property in Brooklyn where City Hall plans to build 900 apartments. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

New York has a housing crisis, but it’s also short on space. One potential solution? Build on land that the city owns but isn’t using.

That was the idea behind Mayor Adams’ executive order last year that required city agencies to find land that could be used for housing.

That effort has resulted in plans to build 11 projects and nearly 1,000 homes, Adams said in a press conference Thursday morning. “Where past administrations saw vacant lots and old office buildings, our administration saw housing,” he said.

He highlighted two new proposals on the Williamsburg waterfront and along the East River In East Harlem, where officials hope to build 900 and 800 homes, respectively. One-quarter of those homes would be set aside as affordable housing, Adams said.

The nine other projects include three library renovations with housing on top, the redevelopment of the old Flushing airfield, and the replacement of the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development’s office on 100 Gold St.

Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Adolfo Carrión said that a city task force, convened in response to Adams’ executive order last year, identified 13,000 potential development sites in total.

Two of the projects have begun public engagement. The rest are still requesting proposals from developers. Some may require review through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Process.

Seeing housing in the ground may take time, even when experts say there is a dire shortage.

“We have been clear that the only way out of our housing crisis is to build more housing, and that is exactly what we are doing,” said Adams.

Here’s what else happened in housing this week—

ICYMI, from City Limits:

Speaking of city-owned land: the City Council approved a plan to build supportive housing on the campus of Jacobi Hospital, where apartments would be set aside for people with health issues who are coming out of jail. Last week, Mayor Eric Adams abruptly pulled his support for the project—which was first proposed in 2022—but lawmakers voted it through anyway, also over the objections of the councilmember whose district it lands in.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under President Trump introduced an English-only policy last month, phasing out all of its materials in other languages. While local agencies that administer HUD programs will continue to offer translation services, tenants in buildings directly subsidized by HUD, such as project-based Section 8, may face hurdles, experts said.

Also feeling the rental squeeze? The city’s arts organizations. Learn more about BronxArtSpace, a gallery and exhibition space that’s found an affordable home in Hunts Point.

We need to turn the lights off in New York City’s buildings at night to protect birds from collisions, writes Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and Kathy Nizzari, founder of the Lights Out Coalition.

ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:

After many delays and community protests, a task force approved a plan to redevelop the Brooklyn Marine Terminal along Red Hook’s waterfront with thousands of new apartments, according to The City.

A record number of people moved out of shelter using CityFHEPS vouchers last year, Gothamist reported.

The city may pony up $2 billion to build a platform over a Manhattan rail yard so mega-developer Related Companies can build out the rest of Hudson Yards with “mostly luxury housing,” according to the New York Times.

Thousands of rent-stabilized apartments across Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx will be auctioned off after falling into bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported.  

Learn more about the housing-related ballot measures up for a vote this fall, via NY1.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Patrick@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

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