In a recent feature in The Nation, Marc Norman, Silverstein Chair and Associate Dean at NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, offers a grounding reality check on New York City’s latest wave of housing ambition, reminding us that the most powerful thing a new mayor can do is build on what already exists. His analysis cuts to the heart of why housing progress in New York so often stalls: not for lack of vision, but for lack of continuity.
Norman’s central argument is that newly inaugurated Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s ability to deliver on his sweeping promises – a rent freeze on 1 million stabilised apartments and 400,000 new affordable units over a decade – will depend heavily on the foundation laid before him. As Norman puts it, “A lot of it depends on who the mayor was before them.” With New York’s rental vacancy rate sitting at a dire 1.4%, the pressure to act is immense, but experts agree that grand pledges mean little without the policy infrastructure to back them up. Norman points directly to Adams’s “City of Yes” rezoning plan as that infrastructure, a sweeping framework that enables infill development, accessory dwelling units, and smaller apartment buildings across every neighbourhood type in the city. Crucially, Norman notes that the political reality means Mamdani will likely absorb the credit: “Mamdani’s going to be able to take credit for the things that happen under [the plan], even though it passed under Adams.”
The piece uses the now-dormant Sunnyside Yard as its starkest cautionary tale. Once envisioned as a transformative 180-acre development in Queens – capable of delivering 12,000 units of 100% affordable housing – the project has ground to a complete halt, a casualty of poor timing, shifting political priorities, and the failure of successive administrations to carry the baton. It is a vivid illustration of what Norman warns against most: allowing well-conceived, pipeline-ready work to wither simply because a new administration wants to plant its own flag. The article argues that this pattern of starting over is one of the most consistent and damaging features of New York City housing policy.
In contrast, Norman advocates for a less glamorous but far more achievable path: systematically converting the city’s 20,000+ surface parking lots and vacant sites into modest 50-unit residential buildings, one at a time, using the legal and planning frameworks already in place under “City of Yes.” It’s an approach that prioritises execution over ambition, and incremental progress over transformational promises. His message to Mamdani is clear: inherit well, move fast, and don’t reinvent the wheel.
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