Mayor Eric Adams issued Executive Order 43 on August 21, 2024, to combat New York City’s housing shortage by prioritizing the development of 500,000 new housing units. The order establishes a City Housing Activation Taskforce to identify and utilize city-owned land for housing production. This initiative aims to address the city’s critically low vacancy rate and promote affordable housing across all five boroughs.
Prioritizing Housing Production and Accelerating the Production of Housing on City Sites
WHEREAS, New York City is experiencing a housing shortage that must be addressed through the production of additional housing at all levels of affordability; and
WHEREAS, the Department of City Planning projects that the City must add at least 500,000 new housing units this decade to address unmet housing needs; and
WHEREAS, the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey recently found that the city’s vacancy rate – a measure of the city’s housing stock available for rent – has dropped to a mere 1.4%, the lowest this measure has been since 1968; and
WHEREAS, New York City and its agencies own and control land throughout the five boroughs that could support additional production of housing; and
WHEREAS, decisions across City government – from regulation, to administration, to planning – have consequences for housing production and thereby affect the health, safety, and welfare of New Yorkers;
NOW, THEREFORE, by the power vested in me as Mayor of the City of New York, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Establishment of the Taskforce. There is hereby established an interagency City Housing Activation Taskforce (the “Task Force”).
- The Task Force shall be chaired by the Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce or such Deputy Mayor’s designee (the “Chair”), or the successor to such Deputy Mayor or their designee;
- The Task Force shall consist of representatives from Mayoral agencies and offices, including the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of Sanitation, the Department of Transportation, the Fire Department, the Police Department, and the Office of Management and Budget, and representatives from other agencies or entities designated by the Chair;
- The Task Force shall also seek the participation and cooperation of additional public and other entities as the Chair deems appropriate, provided that such entities shall include the New York Public Library, the Queens Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the New York City Department of Education, the New York City Housing Authority, and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. The Chair may invite any of these or other entities as designated by the Chair to participate on the Task Force in accordance with subdivision (b) of this Section.
§ 2. Duties of the Task Force.
- The Task Force shall:
- Review all land under the ownership and control of the City or of other participating and cooperating agencies and entities, and enlist the collaboration of City agencies and such other agencies and entities, to identify potential sites for housing development and to determine if such sites could be used to further housing production on such sites or on adjacent or nearby sites without disruption to critical operations;
- Develop guidelines to ensure that all designated City agencies and other participating and cooperating agencies and entities consider, to the extent practicable, the effect of agency policies and practices on housing production and strive to update policies and practices to promote housing production.
§ 3. This Order shall take effect immediately, and shall expire and be deemed revoked on December 31, 2025.
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Eric Adams
Mayor
August 21, 2024 New York NY
Sources: Midtown Tribune news , NYC.gov
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