Vital City

My former NY1 colleague @errollouis.bsky.social interviewing GOP candidate for NYC mayor Curtis Sliwa at @columbiauniversity.bsky.social. @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social @columbiajournalism.bsky.social

Slow Boring forecast that Eric Adams might accomplish good things or housing or might devolve into an orgy of corruption.

Turns out it was both.

www.slowboring.com/p/the-path-f...

This one is definitely worth your time.

Vital City | The High Price of Fine Print Overly complex building codes are a big reason why housing construction costs so much.

I have a piece in the latest issue of @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social about New York City's very special building codes (evacuation maps! mass timber! drop ceilings! pipes!), and some issues for code reform more broadly www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Vital City | The Rent Is Too Damn High (But Also Too Low) Three strategies for addressing both the needs of renters and the financial challenges of maintaining their buildings

A new op-ed from CHPC’s @hslatkin.bsky.social in @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social illuminates how misunderstanding of rent-stabilized apartment data is contributing to a mounting financial crisis in the housing New York City's low-income residents rely on.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Vital City | Issue 14 How New York City can produce and preserve many more homes

And there's more. Find the whole table of contents here:

vitalcitynyc.org/issues/issue...

Vital City | A Housing Agenda for the Next Mayor Five ways the next administration can help provide an affordable place to live for every New Yorker

What should the next administration prioritize? Jamie Rubin lays out a housing agenda that could actually move the needle.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/a-h...

Vital City | My First Adult Apartment Finding a place of your own in New York is notoriously challenging — but also rewarding. We asked some New Yorkers to reflect on their first apartments in the city.

The universal New York City rite of passage? Your first adult apartment. Megan McArdle, Dan Smith, Ayo Balogun, @majoracarter.bsky.social, @teacherarthurg.bsky.social and Suketu Mehta share their stories.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/my-...

Vital City | Build Big Without Delay New York City has ample locations to produce thousands of units at a time. We need an aggressive strategy to turn parking lots and underutilized spaces into housing.

Do we have to settle for singles rather than aiming to produce thousands of units at a time? Rev. David Brawley and Rob English of Metro IAF say we should swing for the fences.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/bui...

Vital City | Crossing Delancey: One Project’s Story A legislator’s-eye view of reflecting community input and building ambitious affordable housing

The development process is loooooong and winding. Former Councilwoman @carlinarivera.bsky.social provides an insider's perspective on how Essex Crossing actually happened.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/cro...

Vital City | The Form Density Takes Revisiting mid-rise housing for a walkable city

New York City has some excellent housing types, but we can also draw inspiration from around the world. Claire Weisz and Jacob Dugopolski of WXY Studio sketch some underexplored ways to house people here.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Vital City | Call it Gentlefication How a new tool can help existing neighborhoods welcome housing construction

To address real and imagined displacement fears, what about "gentlefication"? David Kemper discusses how we can help ensure that existing residents benefit from neighborhood improvements.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/cal...

Vital City | The Quality of Quantity Bloodless counts of the numbers of units created miss something essential.

"Perspiration without inspiration is just sweat." Architect @vishaan.bsky.social asks a big question: How do we inspire people to actually want more housing?

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Vital City | Predictability Begets Productivity: A Conversation with Alicia Glen Lessons from former Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen about building housing

"The wait is the biggest driver of cost in affordable housing — not the requirements. It's the years lost to bureaucracy." Former deputy mayor Alicia Glen gets candid.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/pre...

Vital City | Building Better, Piece by Piece Can government demand help revive the U.S.'s flailing modular construction industry?

Can we build more housing in factories, faster and at a lower cost? @caraeckholm.bsky.social discusses how an urban experiment could be brought to scale.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/bui...

Vital City | The Promise of Floating Zoning An idea to boost New York City’s efforts to house more people in more places

A seemingly obscure idea called "floating zoning" could produce housing much more quickly on the ground. @kaley explains this innovative development approach.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Vital City | California Dreaming New York should follow the Golden State’s lead when it comes to housing legislation.

.@resnikoff.bsky.social explains what California's housing experiments mean for New York City and State.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/cal...

Vital City | The Property Tax Cannot Stand Why reforming the complex, unfair system is imperative to produce more housing

Could tax policy unlock housing development? Former city finance commissioner Martha Stark proposes a property tax system that might actually promote apartment production.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Vital City | New York City Needs a Two-Track Mind Housing and transit planning go naturally together.

Transit-oriented housing sounds great in theory. @yonahfreemark.com of the Urban Institute gets practical about building at the right scale in the right places.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/new...

Tokyo keeps housing affordable while New York City spirals ever upward. @joemcreynolds.bsky.social investigates what we can learn from Japan's approach.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/tea...

Vital City | Learning from Jersey City This small city is picking up the slack for the rest of the New York metro area, but its growth spurt is not without growing pains.

Last year, Jersey City (pop. 300K) added twice as many apartments as all of Queens (pop. 2.3M). Ben Schneider asks what New York City can learn from its overachieving neighbor.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/lea...

Vital City | A New Construction Lender in Town A practical agenda for financing housing abundance in New York City

Nothing can be built without financing. @pewilliams.bsky.social of the Center for Public Enterprise offers a primer on how it works, where the gaps are, and innovations that could make a difference.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/a-n...

Vital City | The High Price of Fine Print Overly complex building codes are a big reason why housing construction costs so much.

Fine print is difficult to read but impossible to ignore. @henrygrabar.bsky.social explains how rules and regulations make it more difficult to build efficiently.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Vital City | What Hangs in the Balance Sheets Two New York City apartment buildings’ costs and revenue

What does it actually cost to keep New York City apartments habitable? Every building is unique, but we shed light on two profit-and-loss statements.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/wha...

Vital City | Why It Costs So Much To Build in New York City Untangling the many forces that inflate the price of producing new apartments

Even former supply skeptics now agree that we need more homes. @seancampion.bsky.social of the Citizens Budget Commission breaks down the forces that drive the cost of production so high.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/why...

Vital City | The Rent Is Too Damn High (But Also Too Low) Three strategies for addressing both the needs of renters and the financial challenges of maintaining their buildings

"The rent is too damn high (but also too low)." @hslatkin.bsky.social of Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC) discusses the complexity at the core of New York City's affordability crisis.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Vital City | The Misunderstood Urban NIMBY Opposing new housing development isn’t inherently conservative or regressive.

An inconvenient truth: Many New York City NIMBYs are not wealthy property owners but rather concerned members of marginalized communities. Freddie deBoer challenges common beliefs about housing opposition.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Vital City | Local Democracy is Land-Use Policy NIMBYism is an outgrowth of the shape of civic participation in our cities — and producing more housing means changing the dynamics.

Who isn't at those community board meetings where people line up to oppose developments? @profschleich.bsky.social explains why NIMBYism is so successful: it's about who attends versus who is actually impacted. This is democracy meets housing policy.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/loc...

Vital City | Jane Jacobs and the Quest for Goldilocks Density The 20th century’s leading urbanist was not against development. So what was she for?

Jane Jacobs was not against development. Anthony Flint of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy explains how and when the famous urbanist supported density.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/jan...

Vital City | New York’s Housing Crisis: Self-Inflicted and Solvable The fate of New York is riding on whether the city can increase the supply of housing.

86,000 New Yorkers are in shelters on a given night, the vacancy rate is 1.4%, and rents are at a record high. @annemariegray.bsky.social explains how we arrived at the most severe housing crisis in a century and why it can be solved.

www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/new...