The mayor’s renewed push on Wednesday to rezone SoHo to increase affordable housing has the support of major real estate and development groups, but even they acknowledge overcoming community opposition will be a significant hurdle.

“All of the mayor’s rezoning efforts have been met with furious political and legal challenges,” said Jessica Katz, executive director of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, “so we’re just happy that the mayor’s office is giving SoHo at least a fair shake and is going to defend it on the merits.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that the rezoning effort for SoHo and NoHo would move forward into the city’s public land-use review process. It would encompass the area bound by Canal Street to the south, Houston Street and Astor Place to the north, Lafayette Street and the Bowery to the east, and Sixth Avenue and West Broadway to the west.

More CHPC in the media

Does NYC need more small or large affordable apartments?

“It’s a continually vexing issue: Which of these things do we need more of? Like so many things in housing, we end up answering like it’s an either-or question, but there’s such a need for both,” said Citizens Housing and Planning Council Executive Director Howard Slatkin.
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New York Can House More New Yorkers, Better

“What we need is not haphazard compromise through gritted teeth," writes Howard Slatkin, "but the embrace of a coherent policy to safely and affordably house more New Yorkers. We need to build more housing and help more people afford it.”
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Community preference settlement to shift dynamics in NYC affordable housing lotteries

Howard Slatkin called community preference "a tool that was used to allay concerns about gentrification as the city rebuilt neighborhoods."
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