If you’ve ever walked past an empty lot or an underutilized city-owned building and thought, “we should be doing more with this,” you’re not alone.
The truth is, not every vacant lot you pass is city-owned, but those that are each represent an opportunity to put public dollars towards transforming public lands for the public good. And it’s not just vacant land. At New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), in collaboration with our partner agencies, we are learning from past experience and applying new tools to reimagine how municipal properties and facilities, including parking lots and garages, are used.
In a moment of urgent housing need, we have to ask ourselves whether these sites are truly delivering their highest and best use. When they are not, we must act. And I am proud to say that this approach has been something HPD has leveraged for decades, but in recent years, with greater urgency and new energy.
You can already see the fruits of our labor taking shape. For example, last year, under the leadership of Mayor Adams, New York City’s housing agencies exceeded their shared goal of advancing 24 affordable housing projects on public land within 12 months. We moved forward on 26 projects — surpassing the mayor’s original target and demonstrating what’s possible when we align resources, leadership, and urgency. These developments benefited from strong collaboration across city government, nonprofit partners, and private developers — each working together to deliver more housing more quickly and more equitably.
The footprint of this work spans the city. For instance, there is our project in the upper section of Inwood, where a little-used city parking lot along the Harlem River is being reimagined through a community-driven planning process that will deliver upwards of 600 affordable homes and public green space. In Staten Island, we’re converting an old city-owned garage on Jersey Street into over 200 affordable homes and a new community hub. In the Bronx, we just announced plans for The Stemma: 149 deeply affordable, sustainable homes on a long-vacant lot in Crotona Park East.
We are also looking closer to home for opportunities to create new homes for New Yorkers. The headquarters for the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, 100 Gold in the heart of lower Manhattan, will be transformed into what we estimate could be between 1,000 and 2,000 new homes – at least 25% of which will be affordable. This project will produce more affordable homes than have been produced in the entire last decade in this area. HPD is also moving forward with the redevelopment of a city-owned commercial building in Downtown Brooklyn at 395 Flatbush Avenue Extension. The city is partnering with our development partners to transform the site into over 1,200 new homes, with between 250 and 380 affordable units, and new public open space.
In addition to these projects, in 2024, HPD advanced seven more affordable housing projects on public land, representing 1,070 new homes, through the land use approvals process, known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure or ULURP. One of these projects, the Brownsville Arts Center & Apartments will bring not only 283 affordable homes to Brownsville, but also a cultural arts center with performance, rehearsal, and studio space for use by local cultural and arts groups.
Whether it’s building above a public library or converting an empty parking lot, we’re focused on creating homes that serve the New Yorkers who need them most — seniors, formerly homeless households, and low-income families. This is about more than building units. It’s about building a city where everyone has a safe, affordable place to call home.
We know this work is urgent, and in a city as resourceful and resilient as New York, an empty lot should never stand in the way of a family having a roof over their head.
The work continues.
Ahmed Tigani is the Acting Commissioner of NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.