Op-Ed | The Bronx needs fair housing and City of Yes can help

Aerial view of the Bronx, NY
An aerial view of the Bronx
Photo Getty Images

New York City’s housing crisis is dire and intensifying. Working-class New Yorkers are getting priced out of their neighborhoods, more people are experiencing homelessness, and over 30% of New Yorkers are severely rent-burdened, meaning they spend more than 50% of their income on rent each month.

This crisis is profoundly affecting communities across the city, but the Bronx has been at the forefront by adding more affordable units than any other borough. In recent years, ten New York City Community Districts produced as much new housing as the remaining 49 Community Districts combined – with the Bronx leading this effort.

The root of this crisis is supply. We aren’t building enough housing to keep up with demand or with New Yorkers’ diverse housing needs. In the Bronx, where the top-producing housing district over the past decade is located, the contrast in affordable housing production across neighborhoods is especially striking. In the top third of districts where new affordable housing was built, an average of 72 percent of residents are Black or Latinx, whereas in the bottom third of districts, only 35 percent of residents are Black or Latinx. This disparity underscores the need for equitable solutions to our housing crisis.

While there is no single quick fix to tackle our housing and affordability crisis head-on, zoning reforms like the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity can ease barriers to adding more housing, especially more affordable housing, across all neighborhoods. These long-overdue updates to our zoning code reflect the needs of New York today. Small-scale, common-sense reforms would enable more housing in every neighborhood – including high-opportunity neighborhoods that have opted out of building new housing for decades.

This is especially important to areas like the Bronx that have been adding new housing in recent years. As the largest supportive and affordable housing provider in the city, Breaking Ground has seen firsthand the way new housing can revitalize neighborhoods. For example, Mott Haven has already seen tremendous growth and economic activity alongside new residential developments.

When Breaking Ground opened the doors to our 152-unit Betances Residence in 2022, we enabled low-income seniors to grow old in permanently affordable housing near their families, supported formerly homeless people settling into a new home, and created housing opportunities for working-class New Yorkers in a transit-rich neighborhood.

In the last few years, we’ve seen how significant the opportunity for senior housing in the Bronx has been, addressing the critical need for stable and affordable housing for our elderly population. By providing senior-specific programming and an on-site medical suite, we’re able to help tenants to remain active both physically and mentally.

Unfortunately, many older tenants across New York struggle to afford food, medicine, utilities, and other necessities — stable and affordable housing is an essential need for millions of senior New Yorkers. The City of Yes proposals, such as those that would encourage Accessory Dwelling Units, help ensure that older home-owning residents can establish a new source of income without displacing them from their longtime community. Older New Yorkers who rent would also benefit from increasing housing supply in every neighborhood and added affordability through these reforms, allowing them to age and retire in the communities they love.

We need to add housing at this scale in every neighborhood, and City of Yes can help us do that. Small tweaks to the city’s zoning code – like removing parking minimums to make more space for housing or giving developers that commit to building affordable housing a density bonus – can support the creation of over 150,000 new units of housing across the city over the next 15 years. Lifting parking mandates can also reduce construction costs, freeing up resources to create more affordable housing options. For every 1.2 parking spaces constructed, New York could instead add one studio apartment, directly addressing the city’s housing shortage.

New York City’s housing crisis demands bold and equitable solutions. The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity is a critical step in the right direction. It’s time for every neighborhood to contribute to the solution and embrace the growth and diversity that new housing brings. Together, we can build a more inclusive and affordable New York for all.

Brenda Rosen is president and CEO of Breaking Ground.