Perspectives From Brooklyn 

And Beyond

► Ahead of 1 Year Anniversary of Mayor Adams Unveiling of Willets Point Transformation, NYCEDC and Development Partners Begins Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP)

New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) announced the beginning of the Uniform Land Use Review Process “ULURP” for the Willets Point Phase 2 development that was announced last fall by Mayor Adams. The next phase of development will bring 1,400 units of 100% affordable housing, a new public school, 40,000 square feet of new public open space, retail space, a 250-key hotel and the City’s first soccer-specific stadium that will be privately financed. The new neighborhood will be built on 23-acres of land that will Include the City’s largest all-affordable housing project in a generation, a new public school, and 40,000 square feet of new public open space and the City’s first soccer-specific stadium. EDC estimates that the Willets Point Transformation will add over $6 billion to City’s economy and create 16,000 jobs with priority and training for local residents. Read more.

► It’s Official: Rent Control Is About Wrecking Apartments

The Supreme Court has recognized disinvestment as affordable housing policy. Low quality of life has, unfortunately, been the city’s de facto affordable housing program throughout its history. The more crime, litter, air pollution, noise, vermin, fast food, run-down stores and low-performing schools a neighborhood has, the cheaper the housing will be. It wasn’t an especially insightful observation, just one that few people are willing to say. Now the Supreme Court of the United States, in rejecting landlords’ challenge to rent stabilization, has tacitly endorsed this affordability strategy. It allowed the state to continue capping rents in old apartment buildings, the properties most in need of upkeep.

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► What Really Took Down AirBNB 

It wasn’t the government; it was the housing market. Airbnb is not responsible for Bed-Stuy’s transformation; the city’s extreme housing shortage and sky-high wealth inequality are the central, obvious culprits. But the “sharing economy’s” entry into real estate did not exactly help. An analysis earlier this year by the advocacy and data group Inside Airbnb and the publication Gothamist found that Bed-Stuy had the highest concentration of Airbnb listings of any neighborhood in the city. In one six-by-four-block area, there were 87 Airbnbs. That’s 87 apartments decorated in Ikea and auctioned off night after night to people with no investment in the neighborhood. That’s 87 families that could have lived in Bed-Stuy, moved to Bed-Stuy, stayed in Bed-Stuy. Some Airbnbs, to be fair, were owned and inhabited by people who were defraying their own housing costs. But many of the city’s Airbnbs were full-time short-stay units. They were hotel rooms, not homes, owned by investors, not families. And there were 39,000 of them, displacing 100,000 New Yorkers, give or take. Read more.

► No State Immune to Housing Supply Shortage

A new report on housing underproduction from the American Planning Association, tells the story of a worsening housing affordability and availability crisis affecting communities nationwide. This year’s report found that housing underproduction is spreading geographically — and small towns and suburban communities are not exempt. Housing production is chronically behind demand as a result of decades of exclusionary housing policy, demographic shifts, and an enormous economic recession. As of 2021, the national housing underproduction number is 3.9 million, a 3 percent increase over 2019 underproduction levels. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of counties experiencing underproduction in the United States increased by nearly one third. Additionally, there were 193 metro areas experiencing housing underproduction in 2021 and 85 percent of all markets are worsening. This new data provides fresh evidence for the need to prioritize action on housing across all levels of government, highlighting the critical role community planners can play in finding solutions. Read more.