New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of City Planning Director Dan Garodnick have unveiled a series of initiatives aimed at addressing the city’s housing shortage. As part of Adams’ “City of Yes” plan, the administration aims to convert vacant offices into housing and has launched an Office Conversion Accelerator to expedite such projects.  

Additionally, the “Midtown South Neighborhood Plan” will be introduced to update zoning rules, enabling the transformation of manufacturing and office spaces into live-work communities with new homes and job opportunities. These actions are part of Adams’ efforts to create more housing for New Yorkers and address the affordable housing crisis in the city. 

“Today, as part of our ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ plan, we are throwing open the door to more housing — with a proposal that will allow us to create as many as 20,000 new homes where the building owner wants to convert offices into housing but needs help cutting through the red tape,” said Mayor Adams.