Brad Lander will declare a housing emergency if elected mayor of New York City

A state of emergency was declared due to the housing crisis in New York City. Build 50,000 homes on public golf courses. Triple subsidies for affordable housing.

Brad Lander was some ideas for solving the housing crisis when he was elected mayor in November, according to a 30-page housing plan released Thursday. City auditor Mr Rand joined several other mayoral candidates who hope to engage voters with ambitious plans to make the city more affordable.

Many of the components of his plan, such as increasing housing subsidies, are expensive. Others, such as the development of golf courses, may encounter resistance from people nearby.

But Democrat Mr Rand hopes his years of urban planning and political experience will help him deal with many logistical and political challenges. As a city council member, he helped promote the reconstruction of the Gowanus community in Brooklyn, where thousands of homes were built today.

“This is my job to live in adulthood,” Rand said in an interview. “I will be the best housing mayor.”

The housing crisis has become one of the biggest problems in the mayoral campaign, and candidates are trying to make the city more affordable with lofty commitments.

Rents are at their highest ever and are ready to rise. According to recent data, the share of affordable and rentable apartments is a 50-year low. This situation is fueling homelessness, driving working-class people out of cities and threatening to overturn New York’s economy.

“Housing is the top priority for New Yorkers across the political field,” said CEA Weaver, campaign coordinator for all housing justice, who is a tenant group, urging candidates to limit rent increases in rents for stable homes.

The mayor has a great influence on housing policies. They appoint personnel to the board of directors that manage the city’s public housing system and regulate apartments with stable rents and carry out new developments. They push legislation, shape city budgets, and seek support for cities from state and federal governments.

Mr Rand said announcing an emergency on his first day of office would allow him to increase funding for housing-centric institutions and eliminate time-consuming budget office reviews for certain affordable housing transactions.

He said he would convene a group of New York City residents’ representative groups, the “Citizen Council,” to quickly propose ways to make housing development faster and easier. Like several other candidates, Mr. Rand hopes to promote citywide development plans, not individual neighborhood plans.

He acknowledged that some of his biggest ideas would require changes to the city’s charter. Fortunately, Mayor Eric Adams has formed a charter amendment committee focused on housing that has the power to submit the vote proposal to voters, he said. Mr Rand said he plans to come up with ideas to the group next month.

Many candidates agree to increase development, but their approach is different.

Mr Lander proposed the golf course idea as part of his plan to build 500,000 homes over the next 10 years. Mr. Adams supports zoning changes that make the entire city easier to build, and his goal is to be a similar number and hopes to focus on apartments with large enough families.

Progressive state Senator Zellnor Myrie called for a million new homes to be built over the next decade, including thousands of residential areas that “mixed” between the city’s industrial areas. In his housing plan, Democratic Socialist state legislator Zohran Mamdani said he wanted to spend $100 billion to help build 200,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years.

Curtis Sliwa, the mayor’s Republican candidate, also wants more homes, although he wants to focus on the small landlord.

“The fact that nearly every mayoral candidate is prioritizing more housing needs is a sign of how much the conversation has changed,” said Annemarie Gray, executive director of Open New York, a nonprofit organization Open New York.

“There is widespread agreement now that the only way to reduce costs for New Yorkers is to build more homes, and soon,” she added.

Several candidates, especially those on the left, also highlighted policies that benefit tenants.

State Senator Jessica Ramos and former State Senator Michael Blake both said they would freeze rents in about one million homes with stable rents in the city.

Former city auditor Scott Stringer said he would seize the neglected apartment building and transfer it to “responsible developers.” Mr Lander said he wanted to expand funding for lawyers representing tenants in the housing court.

Former Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said he wanted to “strengthen the enforcement of the rent stability law to prevent illegal rent hiking and landlord harassment.”

The next mayor must also deal with New York City’s vast public housing system that requires billions of dollars in repairs and upgrades. The elections that President Trump’s critically talked about public housing have put more pressure on the mayor to find a local solution.