Council Speaker Menin Proposes Building Thousands of Apartments on Small Lots

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin on Friday announced a proposal to build up to 35,000 new apartments on nearly 3,000 small lots across the five boroughs. These would be made feasible through reforms to the city’s Construction Codes, which currently constrain the feasible design of housing on small lots.

Menin also announced the creation of a new Council Advisory Group on Housing Affordability, a panel of subject matter experts, advocates, organized labor and community organizations. The group will identify and refine proposals the Council can undertake to build, preserve and support housing.

“Across the five boroughs, there are thousands of small, underutilized lots that have the potential to deliver tens of thousands of new homes, but outdated rules and unnecessary red tape are standing in the way,” said Menin. “At a moment when vacancy is at historic lows and rents are at record highs, we have an obligation to act boldly and deliver real results for New Yorkers.”

Connect

Inside The Story

Council Speaker Menin's office

About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

Order Reprints