The New York City Housing Authority has a number of aging properties that are desperately in need of redevelopment. Mayor Bill de Blasio should look to the successful models of the past in order to revitalize these existing complexes and boost the city's housing stock.
There are a number of ways the city can achieve this goal. Here are five strategies to help developments thrive:
1. The city should finance the redevelopment of properties using more modern tools such as public-private partnerships and other proven methods for accessing the capital market. These techniques are more sustainable and avoid the need for massive public subsidies. For example, Battery Park City was created as an integrated mixed-income and mixed-use community under a master plan adopted for the project. It was then effectuated with a plan that employed the financeable ground lease as a public-private partnership vehicle. This enabled Battery Park City to become one of the most successful mixed-use and mixed-income developments in the country.
The community is a partnership through private developers and the Battery Park City Authority, the state and the city of New York. It has transformed an area once used as a landfill into a prosperous neighborhood, attracting residents from all over the area and boosting the city's economy. It is also an integral part of the city of New York—not a gated community separated from its surroundings.
2. To renew aging complexes, the city must take advantage of federal grants. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has recognized the need for redevelopment and initiated a program of grants to cover the costs of planning. Chicago and Boston have received substantial grants from the program, and New York should follow their examples.
3. The city should allow existing developments to include a wider range of incomes. A diverse array of families allows a building to be better integrated as a whole. The "80/20" model of affordable housing—which allows developers to build taller structures if 20% of units are affordable—is an example of how this can work in practice.
Mr. de Blasio should consider taking this concept even further by implementing a "50/30/20" program, setting aside 50% of units for luxury housing, 30% for middle-income and 20% for low-income, ensuring an even more diverse and functional development.
4. A wider variety of uses—from apartments to retail—should be incorporated into existing developments. This kind of variety has helped fuel the revitalization of the meatpacking district and north Williamsburg, both of which are stocked with new buildings employing a wealth of different uses at the ground floor from restaurants to mom-and-pop shops to cultural institutions. Such a vibrant streetscape creates a perception of security and also enhances the development as a whole.
5. City leaders must scale back regulations that impede new construction, including opening up streets that have been closed and phasing out obsolete restrictions on zoning, density and uses. That will give developers flexibility to undertake new projects. Rather than raising taxes to fund a staggering amount of deferred maintenance in existing city housing projects, the time has come to redevelop them. Where today lonely towers in parks stand in disrepair, new mixed-income and mixed-use integrated communities should rise.
This initiative should be overseen through the creation of a new Affordable Housing Authority—modeled after the Battery Park City Authority or the Urban Development Corp.—that can guide the process with the powers needed to ensure these objectives are carried out.
We know how to build successful new developments, but now we need to focus on improving what we already have. Existing developments could house many families in need if they are brought back into shape. With a new mayor at the helm, now is the time to apply what we have learned to revive and redevelop the city's vast housing stock to ensure all New Yorkers have an affordable place to live.
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