These are legitimately gorgeous www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/r...

From DM Bozorg: “Our state policymakers in Albany have an opportunity to make a real dent in the housing crisis. Reforming the state’s environmental review process sounds wonky, but it is fundamentally about a critically important question: whether we are able to deliver a more affordable city.”

Thanks to Hell Gate for reaching out to me for a response! Here’s my Q&A with them. hellgatenyc.com/abundance-ag...

We know New York isn't building enough housing. But outside NYC, the housing we do build is overwhelmingly single-family sprawl, often bulldozing acres of forest to build mansions. This broken status-quo is ironically the result of our environmental review law, SEQRA. 🧵

You know you want to spend your Friday afternoon listening to me, @hslatkin.bsky.social, and @benmax.bsky.social talk about housing policy ⬇️

Me and @daphnelundi.bsky.social @urbanoceanlab.bsky.social on climate, housing, and SEQRA: "It is a climate – and moral – imperative that we allow more people to live in neighborhoods that are well-connected to transit, have lower climate risk, and have access to parks and social infrastructure"

Every couple of months or so, someone puts out a piece of bad social science meant to undermine the case for more housing. For Roosevelt Institute, I wrote a blog post responding to the two most recent specimens. rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/there-i...

When in doubt about what’s driving high home prices, just read what fancy Brooklyn real estate agents send out in their public mailers

💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼

NEW: Mamdani's City Hall is discussing charging fees for currently free on-street parking — a policy change that would not only create a new revenue stream but also seize a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the streetscape. buff.ly/9C0Iq34

I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon. I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City.

If California and other relatively LGBT-friendly states want to be helpful, they're going to need to build a lot more housing.

Thank you @speakermenin.bsky.social for making this a top priority 👏👏👏 Excited for an era with new tools from the voter-approved ballot measures that help our leaders ensure all neighborhoods are part of the solution.

Something unthinkable happened today: Vickie Paladino, a NIMBY Republican, voted to approve new housing in her district. Why now? November's @YesOnAffHousing.bsky.social ballot measures have completely changed the landscape of housing approvals in NYC.

“These were intended to stop Council members from blocking all new housing out of hand. We’re now seeing that change,” said Annemarie Gray, executive director of the yes-in-my-backyard (YIMBY) group Open New York. via @patrickspauster.com: citylimits.org/nycs-housing...

This is what structural change looks like. The people who move into this new apartment building probably won't realize that they can live there because of the ballot propositions, but behind the scenes their gravitational force bends even opponents towards more housing. Congrats to @opennewyork.org!

Congratulations to Sideya Sherman! With NYC’s housing shortage inextricably intertwined with its history of exclusionary zoning, I'm excited for Sherman's background at the intersection of racial equity and fair housing to seize momentum and new tools to build more homes more fairly for NYers.

A literal country club is being replaced with an apartment building. Previously through "member deference" Paladino would be able to block this project. However, with the new "affordable housing appeals board" if the council rejects it the Mayor and BP can approve it (and indicated they would)

WATCH: MAGA CM Vickie Paladino is crashing out because props 2-5 will allow affordable housing to be built in her Queens district. These changes were designed as a backstop to prevent abuse of member deference, and ensure that every neighborhood does its part. They're working!

NYC Council Member Vickie Paladino (R) crashing out over a new apartment building in her district that will likely be approved tomorrow due to the "Affordable Housing Appeals Board" adopted by voters last November. It's long, but the whole 7 minutes is worth it!

Barely three months later and the ballot measures are already speeding up new homes 🔥 Thank you @mayor.nyc.gov, HPD, DCP, CM Encarnacion for today’s announcement and the @OpenNewYork.org members and @YesOnAffHousing.bsky.social coalition partners who fought for these measures

The first project to make use of an accelerated review process—one of several ballot measures passed by NYC voters last year to speed up housing production—will turn a parking lot in the Bronx into 84 affordable apartments. via @patrickspauster.com: citylimits.org/move-over-ul...

How a decision by NYC voters sped up a plan to build affordable housing in the Bronx https://gothamist.com/news/how-a-decision-by-nyc-voters-sped-up-a-plan-to-build-affordable-housing-in-the-bronx

In November, New Yorkers overwhelmingly voted to speed up housing approvals. Just 4 months later, we're already seeing the results:

@opennewyork.org is hiring a policy director! With Mamdani as mayor and ballot questions 2-5 written into law, there's never been a better time to get involved with pro-housing policy in New York. www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/po...

If everyone reacting to this incredulously/asking why we can’t have nice things could take a few mins to email Manhattan CB 2 about how the proposed project’s design and aesthetics are appropriate for the historic district that would be great. 🫶🏻 📧 cbmanhattan.cityofnewyork.us/cb2/contact/

In my decade working on affordable housing in NYC, I’ve seen SEQRA act as a barrier to housing time and time again. I’m so excited to see @governor.ny.gov and @mayor.nyc.gov working together to finally fix this and proud to stand with them this morning. Onwards!

"For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career...cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism." (gift link)

This is a huge, important job

Some exciting (& bittersweet) news: our Chief of Staff & Policy Director @andrewdfine.bsky.social will be leaving Open New York to join the Mamdani admin, where he will be a senior advisor to DM Bozorg overseeing housing policy 🧵

I had the good fortune of serving as Chief of Staff to Yume Kitasei during peak Covid. As @mayor.nyc.gov said "Yume is the perfect person to lead @nycdcas.bsky.social ...like many New Yorkers, Yume contains multitudes." Yume is unflappable, whip smart, kind, and an all-around wonderful pick.

“New Yorkers are facing soaring housing costs. Today, the environmental review process often gets abused by 1 person who’s trying to stop affordable housing right above a transit stop. That’s crazy, and it's not serving our affordability or climate goals." @AnnemarieGray.bsky.social

Excited to talk SEQRA modernization with @errollouis.bsky.social on Inside City Hall tonight — tune in on NY1!

“Even to build 83 units has taken so much struggle. That should not be so hard. This is an example of the scale of progress that was held up… We want to build as much as possible across this city, for those who call this city home and those who would love to.” @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social

We’re here in the Bronx alongside @NYCMayor and more to celebrate the resumption of the Just Home project, which will create 70 affordable homes with services for formerly-incarcerated New Yorkers. This long-overdue project is an act of compassion for our fellow New Yorkers.

I've increasingly come to view cynicism as the seedbed of totalitarianism, both because it can paralyze the opposition and because it implicitly validates the might-makes-right ethic of the authoritarian.

Excellent video from our new Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning!

You probably don't know what SEQRA is - but you should know that it's slowing down the housing that we need. Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg is here to explain why reforming it is key to cutting red tape and building more housing.

The case against Graeberism and for Mamdanism dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...

🚨 NEW: New York State is modernizing its environmental review process to ensure that infill housing, clean energy, and climate resiliency infrastructure doesn’t get blocked by endless lawsuits and delays.

@governor.ny.gov calls to reform SEQRA environmental reviews: “Right now they slow down the very projects that help us fight climate change, create housing, and strengthen our communities.” It’s time to end those delays and deliver for New Yorkers.

@ZohranKMamdani.bsky.social calls for modernizing environmental review “to deliver an affordability agenda on the timetable needed.” “We cannot address our housing crisis without making it easier to build in NYC.”

We were proud to join @ZohranKMamdani.bsky.social in Central Park today. "I joined this because Zohran is committed to the all-of-the-above approach to the housing crisis that NYC needs—one that protects current tenants while also building the homes future families need." @AnnemarieGray.bsky.social

In a span of barely five years, @opennewyork.org went from a band of ragtag volunteers to a professional organization driving a strong pro-housing agenda in Albany and New York City. If you aren't already involved, get involved! www.onyeducation.org/membership/

Learning that Annemarie Gray (no relation) of Open New York, NYC's YIMBY group, has been appointed to Mayor-elect Mamdani's housing transition team. This is FANTASTIC news!

Absolutely screaming with excitement at @annemariegray.bsky.social of @opennewyork.org being named to @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social's housing transition committee. So well-earned by Annemarie & such a good sign for the Mamdani administration.

We’re here in Central Park with Mayor-Elect @ZohranKMamdani.bsky.social to announce that our Executive Director @AnnemarieGray.bsky.social will be joining his transition committee on housing!

NEW: ALL FOUR PRO-HOUSING BALLOT QUESTIONS PASS!!! For the first time, New Yorkers had the chance to choose more housing at the ballot box—and they chose it overwhelmingly. This is a historic victory for housing that will help make NYC more affordable. 🧵

Today, New York voters made history, passing Proposals 2-5 and clearing the way for the affordable housing we deserve! ✅🌆🗳️ @opennewyork.org @bradlander.bsky.social @marklevinenyc.bsky.social @donovanrichards.bsky.social @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social

86,000 New Yorkers are in shelters on a given night, the vacancy rate is 1.4%, and rents are at a record high. @annemariegray.bsky.social explains how we arrived at the most severe housing crisis in a century and why it can be solved. www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/new...