Every New Yorker — from the renter in Crown Heights to the homeowner in Cambria Heights — knows that the rent (or mortgage) is too high.
Despite the overall post-COVID-19 population recovery, the continuing and astonishing rise in housing costs is pushing back on — and pricing out — working New Yorkers, on whose backs our economy has been built for centuries. Since 2000, we have lost more than 200,000 black residentsAnd today, Families with children Across races are leaving New York City at twice the rate of others. Simply put, our future as the most diverse and dynamic city in the world is in great danger.
Clearly, the status quo is not working. Despite the diligent efforts of recent years – including Council President Adrian Adams’ remarkable leadership in passing Yes City’s zoning reform – we have had incredible success. 1.4% rental vacancy rate (lowest since 1968) and Half of the tenants and Homeowners They can’t afford where they live.
Our affordability crisis is a house on fire with no fire door in sight. 88% of New Yorkers feel the city is unaffordableand 65% of New Yorkers say housing cost is their biggest concern. Pushed to the polls by their increasingly threadbare wallets, voters just sent a resounding message in June that putting out this fire must be our first priority.
This November, we have a unique and unprecedented opportunity to take matters into our own hands. New Yorkers have the opportunity to directly vote “yes” on four ballot measures that will finally provide us with the necessary, long-overdue tools to fix our broken housing system.
The current process of housing construction in New York City is extremely complex, slowing or hindering the construction of new housing altogether. In the last decade, housing has been built It lagged behind major American cities.
These days, the average time it takes to build new housing in New York City is Nearly 900 days – Compared to 220 in Boston or 400 in Los Angeles, housing production in New York reached It has decreased by 75% over the past century – In some societies, Not one project It was approved in the last decade. In the past 10 years, only 12 community council areas have built more housing than… The other 47 combined.
When it takes $4 million and four years to go from idea to shovel, many projects aren’t even proposed — making it impossible to determine how many tens of thousands of homes our city has actually been prevented from building.
But these effects have not been equal: black and Latino families in New York are feeling them Probably more than double To report poor housing conditions compared to their white neighbors, black and Latino New Yorkers 90% of families In our shelter system. There are also stark disparities when it comes to home ownership 42% of white residents own their homescompared to only 27% of the black population and only 17% of the Latino population.
As an elected official, it is my job to be part of the solution — which is why I am voting yes on Propositions 2 through 5.
Propositions 2 and 3 will speed up development of affordable ones up to four stories high, as well as facilitate commonsense climate resilience improvements, such as installing solar panels.
Ballot Proposition 5 will end cumbersome and costly delays – and usher us into the 21st century – by enabling us to convert 8,000 paper maps into a single digital map.
Finally, Proposition 4 would create a body where elected representatives — the council president, the chair of the relevant district, and the mayor — would be able to consider critical housing needs at the district and city levels when reconsidering foreclosed housing.
In Queens, One community area added 2,485 homes last year, while another added just 76 homes (The same community area has added very little for years)! Our housing crisis is a citywide problem and requires a citywide solution.
If these ballot measures pass, council members will still have enormous power in negotiating the best deals for their constituents — and they should use them. The goal of the new Board of Appeals is not for every project to come before it, but for it to be used sparingly when red tape gets in the way of the smaller, cheaper housing we desperately need in every part of the city.
As Mayor, I will continue to work with communities and community boards across Queens to ensure the voices of our neighbors are heard. New York is on the wrong housing path, pushing out families, workers, and diverse communities. This November, New Yorkers can help change that. To protect the city we love, I urge all New Yorkers to vote yes on Propositions 2-5.
Richards is the Queens borough president.