Mayor Adams announces proposal to convert vacant offices into housing. Image Credit: Violet Mendelsund/Mayoral Photography Office.

On August 17, 2023, Mayor Eric Adams and Department of City Planning (DCP) Director Dan Garodnick took significant steps toward building critical new housing across the City by devising a plan to convert vacant offices into housing and implementing procedures to ensure the plan’s success. (more…)

DCP Director Dan Garodnick, Council Members Crystal Hudson and Chi Ossé, and Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue join together to announce the details for renovations to St. Andrew’s Playground, which is part of the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan. Image Credit: NYC Planning.

On September 7, 2023, the New York City Mayor’s Office and New York City Department of City Planning released plans for new affordable senior homes and a revamp of St. Andrew’s Playground in Central Brooklyn. The departments’ objective was to further their ‘Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan’ by building in a zone of Brooklyn that has been stifled by restrictive zoning regulations. (more…)

Rendering of 534 Coney Island Avenue. Image Credit: NYC DCP.

On August 23, 2023, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing for the 534 Coney Island Avenue project, an application that would enable the construction of a mixed commercial and residential use building in the Flatbush and Kensington area of Brooklyn. The proposed building site is currently a fast-food restaurant. The applicant seeks to rezone part of the block surrounded by Hinckley Place to the north, Coney Island Avenue to the east, Beverly Road to the south, and East 8th Street to the west. Middle School 890 is located across Hinckley Place from the proposed site. (more…)

Rendering of the new senior housing development Weeksvillage. Image Credit: HPD.

On June 22, 2023, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) announced plans to develop 200 affordable senior homes in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The project, called Weeksvillage,  will be developed by CAMBA Housing Ventures (CHV) on underutilized NYCHA land within the Kingsborough Houses campus. (more…)

Comptroller Lander announces the audit of the Department of Homeless Services’ efforts following the encampment sweeps last year. Image Credit: Kaitlyn DePalma /Office of New York City Comptroller

A new audit by NYC Comptroller Brad Lander found that the Adams Administration’s homeless sweeps failed to meet their goals and proposes that NYC establish a large-scale “Housing First” program instead. On June 28, 2023, City Comptroller Brad Lander released an audit of NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS)’s role in the Adams Administration’s sweeps of homeless encampment sites between March and November 2022. The audit found that the sweeps failed to meet their primary goal of connecting homeless individuals with services. (more…)