New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday highlighted key elements of “Block by Block,” the administration’s housing strategy aimed at addressing the city’s affordability crisis through the creation and preservation of affordable housing. The plan sets a goal of producing 200,000 new affordable homes over the next decade and is paired with nearly $5 billion in funding over the next two years for new rent-stabilized affordable housing, including dedicated investments in senior and supportive housing.
The initiative is being advanced by City Hall in coordination with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of City Planning, and the New York City Housing Development Corporation.
Block by Block combines direct public investment, financing reforms, and a broad land-use agenda intended to increase housing production across the five boroughs. Key components include a citywide transit-oriented development proposal, the use of voter-approved land-use tools to accelerate affordable housing projects, and the creation of New York City’s first revolving loan fund for affordable housing development. The administration is also continuing implementation of Executive Orders 4 and 5, which were signed on Mayor Mamdani’s first day in office to speed housing development and expand affordable housing opportunities on city-owned land.
The plan incorporates recommendations from the Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development (SPEED) Task Force, including reforms to environmental review procedures that city officials say will reduce development timelines for affordable housing projects. Additional strategies focus on maximizing the use of city-owned sites for both 100 percent affordable and mixed-income housing, including projects co-located with public facilities such as schools and libraries. The administration has also outlined efforts to preserve existing affordable housing and improve conditions in public housing developments.
“New Yorkers deserve a housing plan that meets this crisis with ambition, scale and urgency it demands,” Mayor Mamdani said. “If we want New York City to remain a place where working people can afford to live and build a future, we have to build far more housing and give New Yorkers housing options of all types, across the entire city. Block by Block is an all-of-the-above strategy to deliver the homes New Yorkers need, including 200,000 new affordable homes over the next decade.”
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What New York needs is at-cost housing, not “affordable” housing that will need to be subsidized by other tenants in the building or the government. So far, rent restrictions have withstood legal challenges, but that may not be the case forever.