Housing

As cities become wealthier, housing becomes a huge problem. What is the future of housing going to look like? And more importantly, what should it look like?

The high-end housing market is over-saturated in NYC. It is only time until that market starts to shift because banks will want their capital back on the loans and many places will just sit there because they are just priced too high.

It is truly no different than when department stores decided to trade up and go after a higher-end customer instead of sticking to the bread and butter of their business that is moderately priced. Even investors who invest in new businesses that don’t really have the size of the market they believe. The majority of the market is not high-end and in cities, we need a mixture of everything to create working communities.

Where do our teachers, police, grocers, child-care providers, and other important people of our everyday lives live?

I recently spoke with someone about this topic. Even now all the waterfront is being bought up in the Bronx by developers. Are they going to do the right thing and think about the future of communities? Are they going to build carbon-free buildings with spaces for middle income and lower-income families including teen spaces, a grocery that speaks to the community, restaurants, retail, art space (theaters for plays and movies) and social support systems? If not, they should. Think about a new Stuyvesant town.

I have been vocal about my thoughts on Hudson Yards, an ugly playground for the wealthy which I hope is the peak of this market. The government needs to be giving reasons for uncreative greedy developers to think out of the box and build something for the next generation of NYers that include people from every walk of life. That is what makes NY such a unique place but without housing, it is hard to keep our artists, child-care providers, police, teachers, and others close to their work and home.