NEWYORK: New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that since issuing his historic Executive Order 43 in August 2024 requiring city agencies to review their portfolios and identify potential city-owned sites for housing, the Adams administration has advanced plans for 9,750 new homes across 11 properties.
After releasing his executive order, Mayor Adams established the City Housing Activation Task Force (CHAT) to bring together representatives from over 20 city agencies, select promising city-owned locations for housing, and help create homes on those sites.
The 11 projects advanced through CHAT include two new projects on city-owned sites unveiled for the first time.
Mayor Adams announced that his administration will begin public engagement and issue requests for proposals (RFPs) to create over 900 new homes at 390 Kent Avenue in Brooklyn as well as approximately 800 new homes at 1880 First Avenue in Manhattan; at least a quarter of the housing on each site will be affordable.
The announcement reinforces Mayor Adams’ ongoing commitment to creating new homes across the entire city, with over 426,000 homes already created, preserved, or planned through the Adams administration’s efforts to date.
The announcement also kicks off Mayor Adams’ “Affordable Autumn” initiative, a series of announcements throughout the season focused on the Adams administration’s work to put money back into the pockets of working-class New Yorkers and create a more affordable city.
“Where past administrations saw vacant lots and old office buildings, our administration saw housing. That’s why we issued a historic executive order requiring every agency to look for places where we could build homes and advanced nearly 10,000 new homes on city sites over the past year alone,” said Mayor Adams.
“We have been clear that the only way out of our housing crisis is to build more housing, and that is exactly what we are doing. From creative initiatives like this one to ambitious plans like ‘City of Yes,’ our administration is using every tool we have to create the homes that New Yorkers need and proving we are the most pro-housing administration in city history.”
“In just one year since Mayor Adams’ executive order creating the City Housing Activation Task Force, we are already advancing nearly 10,000 new homes on city-owned properties,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Adolfo Carrion, Jr.
“The two sites we are announcing today not only add to that accomplishment; they show that every city agency is dedicated to addressing our housing crisis, including the folks at DOT who keep us moving, at DCAS who keep the city running smoothly, and at NYC Health + Hospitals who keep us healthy. It is truly all hands on deck for housing.”
In the coming months, the Adams administration will begin the public engagement process to redevelop both the 390 Kent Avenue property and the 1880 First Avenue property into new housing. Ultimately, the city will issue two RFPs to create at least 1,700 homes across both locations through the CHAT initiative.
First, at 390 Kent Avenue in Brooklyn, the Adams administration will redevelop one of Williamsburg’s only remaining underutilized waterfront sites into 900 new units of housing, at least a quarter of which will be affordable.
The 72-year-old building, which requires extensive repairs, currently houses operations by the New York City Department of Transportation and the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
As part of the redevelopment of the site, the city will not only create new housing, but address its aging building stock by replacing the facility and provide public open space along the waterfront.
Second, at 1880 First Avenue in Manhattan, the Adams administration will seek to redevelop a city-owned parking lot across from NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H) Metropolitan to create approximately 800 new homes, at least a quarter of which will be affordable; the project builds on the work of “Housing for Health,” which connects patients experiencing homelessness to permanent housing. Parking access for city employees who currently use the lot will remain continuous throughout construction and project completion.
