Three recent numbers should shape the housing debate in New York City.
The first is 700,000.
That’s how many new homes Mayor Mamdani’s administration says are needed over the next decade to address New York City’s housing shortage.
The second is a bit greater than 8,000.
That’s approximately how many housing units entered the city’s development pipeline last quarter, according to REBNY’s latest construction report. It is less than half the quarterly pace needed to meet the mayoral administration’s housing goals.
The third is more than $5,000.
That’s the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan.
Taken together, these numbers tell a simple story. New York needs dramatically more housing than it is producing, and New Yorkers are paying the price for that deficit.
City and state leaders deserve credit for taking steps to seek to address the problem. The City of Yes zoning reforms expanded opportunities for housing growth. Albany leaders lifted the outdated 12 floor area ratio (FAR) cap and extended the 421-a construction deadline. Office-to-residential conversions are becoming more feasible. Last year’s charter changes and Gov. Hochul’s SEQRA reforms were designed to reduce delays and bureaucracy. The mayor’s SPEED initiative could help if it succeeds in reducing delays and making city government work more efficiently.
But zoning reform and faster approvals will not create housing if projects cannot be financed and built.
That is why it is inevitable that 485-x warrants another look.
The program’s wage framework, developed by the building trade unions and enacted without real estate industry input, is at odds with New York’s housing needs.
Instead of encouraging larger multifamily developments, it is pushing many projects below 150 units or off the table entirely.
New York cannot create 700,000 homes during 10 years while discouraging the developments most capable of delivering housing at scale.
New construction is only part of the solution. New York must also restore the housing it already has. Tens of thousands of rent-regulated apartments remain vacant because owners cannot recover the cost of needed repairs. Returning them to productive use is common sense. It adds supply quickly, without building a single new unit. That effort will require a change in mindset.
More frequently, leading public officials are treating rent-regulated housing providers as villains rather than essential partners in preserving the city’s housing stock. Rhetoric and policies designed to punish owners may be politically popular, but they do nothing to create homes or help renters find them.
Rent-regulated buildings need investment, maintenance and responsible stewardship if they are going to continue serving future generations.
Operating housing has also become more expensive. Increasing insurance costs and water rates as well as a property tax system that places a disproportionate burden on rental housing make it harder to maintain buildings, restore vacant apartments and finance new development.
At the end of the proverbial day, every housing proposal should be judged by a simple question: Will it produce more housing? If the answer is no, New York is moving in the wrong direction.
If our leaders truly want lower rents and create greater affordability, they must focus relentlessly on expanding housing supply, restoring existing apartments and encouraging investment in the homes New Yorkers need.
Until we close the gap between 700,000, 8,000 and $5,000, the housing crisis will remain exactly what those numbers tell us it is: a city that desperately needs more homes and still isn’t creating enough of them.
Whelan is president of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY).