New York City Launches Program to Fast Track Affordable Housing Projects on City-Owned Land
NEW YORK—New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg and Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Dina Levy announced on Wednesday the launch of the new “Neighborhood Builders Fast Track,” an expedited process to speed the delivery of affordable housing on city-owned land.
With Neighborhood Builders, HPD will pre-qualify affordable housing builders and shorten the pre-development Request for Proposals (RFP) process by eight months for certain projects—cutting the time to select an affordable housing developer by nearly half. Together with the new Expedited Land Use Review Procedure, which the Mamdani administration has moved quickly to implement following its approval by voters in November, these programs will cut the pre-development process by more than two years.
“Our city is facing a historic housing crisis—the last thing we need to do is tie ourselves in red tape,” said Mayor Mamdani. “The Neighborhood Builders Fast Track will speed up housing development and make it faster to build on city-owned land. This administration is willing to move at the speed of need to make this a city New Yorkers can continue to call home.”
“New Yorkers deserve a government that doesn’t just deliver high-quality, affordable housing – but that also delivers it efficiently and effectively. I am proud to launch the Neighborhood Builders Fast Track alongside the HPD team who are working to deliver affordable housing across the five boroughs,” said Leila Bozorg, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning. “I’m also excited to be advancing affordable housing projects at 784 Myrtle Ave, 1337 Jerome Ave, and 109-43 Farmers Blvd that will help create more vibrant, affordable neighborhoods, including new homeownership opportunities.”
HPD is releasing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) due May 8th for affordable housing developers who will pre-qualify for the Neighborhood Builders program, with a focus on nonprofit organizations and minority- and women-owned businesses. Once development teams have been qualified, the faster Neighborhood Builders process will be used at sites such as 784-800 Myrtle Ave. in Brooklyn, 1337 Jerome Avenue in the Bronx and 109-43 Farmers Boulevard in Queens, which will together deliver as many as 300 new affordable homes, including around 100 affordable homeownership opportunities at the Bronx and Queens sites. HPD expects to use the Neighborhood Builders Fast Track to advance development of as many as 1,000 new homes over the next two years.
The Neighborhood Builders Fast Track advances the Mamdani administration’s critical goals of creating affordable housing, especially on City-owned land, and speeding up the delivery of housing across the city. On the first day of the administration, Mayor Mamdani signed Executive Orders 4 and 5, establishing the Land Inventory Fast Track (LIFT) and Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development (SPEED) task forces, both of which will deliver recommendations this spring. The LIFT Task Force is working to identify opportunities for housing on city-owned sites, and the SPEED Task Force is working to reform the affordable housing production process, including pre- and post-construction approvals, project financing, and lease-up, city officials stated.
