Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani launched the Neighborhood Builders Fast Track program Tuesday, cutting the timeline to select affordable housing developers by nearly half and targeting 784-800 Myrtle Avenue in Bed-Stuy as one of three initial sites.
The program will pre-qualify affordable housing developers and shorten the Request for Proposals process by eight months. Combined with the new Expedited Land Use Review Procedure approved by voters in November, the initiative will cut the pre-development process by more than two years.
“Our city is facing a historic housing crisis — the last thing we need to do is tie ourselves in red tape,” Mamdani said. “The Neighborhood Builders Fast Track will speed up housing development and make it faster to build on city-owned land.”
Housing Preservation and Development is releasing a Request for Qualifications due May 8 for affordable housing developers, with a focus on nonprofit organizations and minority- and women-owned businesses. The three initial sites — 784-800 Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn, 1337 Jerome Avenue in the Bronx and 109-43 Farmers Boulevard in Queens — could deliver as many as 300 new affordable homes, including around 100 affordable homeownership opportunities at the Bronx and Queens sites.
“The inclusion of 784-800 Myrtle Avenue in our district is both an honor and a recognition of Bed-Stuy’s need for deeply affordable homes so longtime residents and low-income New Yorkers can continue to contribute to our shared Brooklyn heritage,” said Council Member Chi Ossé.
HPD expects to use the Neighborhood Builders Fast Track to advance development of as many as 1,000 new homes over the next two years. “New York City needs more affordable housing, built faster and at lower cost — and HPD is not waiting to deliver it,” said HPD Commissioner Dina Levy. “Public land is a public good — and we will not let city-owned sites sit idle while New Yorkers struggle to find an affordable home.”
Rev. Dr. Adolphus Lacey, pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Bedford Stuyvesant and co-chair of East Brooklyn Congregations, said the program addresses displacement concerns. “With the highest loss of black residents in the city, Mayor Mamdani picked the perfect place to start — Bed Stuy,” Lacey said. “This is hope. This is a downpayment of what is to come — building thousands of affordable homes in Bed Stuy and Central Brooklyn so the people who live here can stay here.”
The initiative advances goals established by Executive Orders 4 and 5, which Mamdani signed on his first day in office. Those orders established the Land Inventory Fast Track and Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development task forces, both scheduled to deliver recommendations this spring.
Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg said the program will create “more vibrant, affordable neighborhoods.” The city’s vacancy rate stands at 1.4 percent.
