New York City’s housing crisis has many causes, but one reality has become increasingly clear: Despite broad agreement on the need for more affordable housing, the systems responsible for approving and delivering it have too often slowed progress.
Lack of supply is indeed a problem. But the challenge has been greatly exacerbated by an approval process so cumbersome and inefficient that it delays desperately needed projects from getting underway — and sometimes even derails them altogether.
At a time when rising construction costs, aging buildings, growing operational pressures and increasing insurance expenses continue to strain affordable housing providers, improving the city’s ability to move projects efficiently from approval to occupancy has become essential to both preserving existing housing and delivering new affordable homes at scale.
With the recent release of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s broader housing plan, the Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development (SPEED) initiative stands out as a central component. The plan reflects a renewed focus on both improving how housing is delivered and strengthening the resources needed to get it done.
The mayor’s decision to create the SPEED Task Force on his first day in office was such an important step. By bringing together people with firsthand experience navigating the city’s housing pipeline, the administration acknowledged something the affordable housing industry has long understood: Improving how we build housing is just as important as setting ambitious housing goals.
The conversations were candid.
Developers working to create and preserve affordable housing described a process defined by unpredictable timelines, duplicative reviews, and reviewing agencies that do not always communicate effectively with one another. The result is a system that slows new construction, delays occupancy of completed apartments, and increases costs at nearly every stage of development.
These delays have consequences beyond the projects themselves. They discourage future investment in affordable housing at a time when the city desperately needs more homes. Most importantly, it delays access to safe and affordable housing for New Yorkers who are increasingly struggling to afford life in this city.
Building affordable housing in New York City has never been easy. The rise of construction costs, from materials to labor, skyrocketing insurance premiums, restrictive zoning rules and administrative hurdles continue to strain projects and keep much-needed housing units offline.
Yet, even developers with financing secured and projects ready to proceed often find themselves stalled by an outdated approval system in which lengthy and duplicative reviews are causing unnecessary delays that add costs to otherwise viable projects.
The good news is that city leaders are finally taking a serious look at how to modernize these processes.
The SPEED Task Force convened industry experts, city employees, and stakeholders from across the housing ecosystem to identify practical reforms. The recently released SPEED report reflects that collaborative effort and offers a roadmap for making the affordable housing pipeline more efficient, transparent and accountable, including targeted process improvements like the Housing Connect revamp that are expected to support not only new development but also the preservation and stability of existing affordable housing.
For many in the affordable housing industry, the process has been encouraging. An industry accustomed to operating on razor-thin margins while confronting seemingly insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles and unpredictable timelines is finally seeing its operational realities reflected in policy discussions. The collaborative approach behind the task force has left many in the affordable housing community feeling that their expertise and on-the-ground experience were valued in shaping these reforms.
It’s all in the details of the recently released SPEED report, a sweeping package of reforms targeting every stage of the affordable housing pipeline.
Crucially, the proposed reforms are expected to reduce affordable housing timelines by eight months. Projects requiring zoning changes could see timelines shortened by as much as two years, with the pre-certification process dropping to just six months, and permitting timelines for new construction and office-to-residential conversions reduced by approximately five months. The median time between a building’s completion and residents moving in would be cut in half, to fewer than 100 days.
For New Yorkers leaving shelters, the reforms are especially meaningful. A new pilot program called MATCH, short for Making Accelerated Transitions to Coordinated Housing, would allow developers to work directly with shelter providers to fill any units set aside for people experiencing homelessness. By streamlining coordination between agencies and providers, the program aims to reduce unnecessary delays that have too often prevented families from accessing housing quickly.
New housing plans, proposals and goals are announced regularly because advocates, developers and elected officials all recognize the urgency of addressing the city’s housing shortage. What makes the SPEED reforms particularly meaningful, however, is the breadth of voices that helped shape them.
The reforms are not the finish line, and there is still significant work ahead. Some of the changes can be implemented quickly, while others will require sustained coordination, additional staffing capacity, and action from Albany to fully realize the report’s goals.
But they represent an important shift toward a more responsive and functional housing process, one that recognizes that delivering affordable housing requires not only vision, but the ability to move projects efficiently from approval to occupancy.
Carlina Rivera is president and CEO of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing and a former member of the New York City Council from Manhattan.
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