NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday launched “Get Stuff Built,” a comprehensive three-pronged effort to address New York City’s affordable housing crisis and underlying housing shortage by rapidly accelerating the pace of housing production, with an “alarming” target of meeting the need for 500,000 new homes over the next decade.
Through “Get Stuff Built,” Mayor Adams’ plan focuses on building homes faster, everywhere, and in partnership with New York State, the New York City Council and New Yorkers in all five boroughs.
“If we want New York to remain the city we love, we need to have places for the people we love. We need more housing and we need it as soon as we can build it,” Mayor Adams said. “The system has been broken for so long that we have come to see it as our reality. Our city declared a housing emergency five decades ago, yet we haven’t been able to address it as urgently as any other crisis. It ends now. We can and must do better. We need to add hundreds of thousands of units to address the problem, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Today we say yes to more accommodations and yes to getting stuff. We will build faster, we will build everywhere and we will build together.”
“Get Stuff Built,” a report from the Building and Land Approval Optimization Task Force (BLAST) convened in June, includes 111 concrete actions the city will take to build more homes faster by cutting red tape, streamlining processes and removing the red tape that is slowing down housing production and economic recovery.
These actions will speed up and reduce development costs by accelerating project timelines by 50%, ensure environmental protection and meaningful public participation, and spur the creation of affordable housing throughout New York City.
“New York City has been in a housing crisis for decades. Now is the time to take bold action, build more housing, and ease the pressure and stress felt by all New Yorkers,” said HPD Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr. “Thanks to Mayor Adams leadership, we are rethinking the age-old processes that are hindering our efforts to build the homes this city so desperately needs. Our agency is committed to continuing to optimize services to serve New Yorkers on behalf of”.
Additionally, Mayor Adams has formally initiated the environmental review process to redevelop the areas around two of the Bronx’s four new Metro-North train stations arriving, with proposals to create thousands of new homes and jobs to support families.
Mayor Adams will also continue to work with federal partners to secure financial support and regulatory changes. This includes work to increase the value of tax credits and tax-free bonds and reducing the “50% test” to further stretch federal dollars for housing.
“This is a major and badly needed effort to address New York’s housing crisis,” said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future. “It will help make New York more accessible and reduce homelessness, but it’s also critical to keeping the city’s economy competitive in this age of remote work.”
