A big housing test for the mayor and the Council

It is painfully clear to New Yorkers that we face a housing crisis. We see it in the sky-high rents, the number of homeless people on the street, and the daily struggles working New Yorkers face simply to live in the city they call home. They feel betrayed by the promise of New York — and they should. Again and again, politics and pointless squabbling keep us from progress.

But now, with new leadership in the City Council and at City Hall, there is a once-in-a-great-while opportunity to reset and begin to build the housing we need, finally delivering for New Yorkers in need of help and hope. Will we do it?

We believe that the One45 project, a brand new residential and commercial complex on the corner of 145th St. and Lenox Ave. in Central Harlem, could be a seminal moment for New York’s resurgence. As the first significant land-use project to be voted on under our city’s new leadership, it could — or could not — set a precedent for all future housing projects to come. Yet its outcome is unsure, despite what we think are model elements that secure a huge amount of affordable housing and community-led investments in workers and residents.

The phrase “housing crisis” has been used so much in New York for so long that we have lost sight of the crisis’ brutal cost and the existential threat it represents to our city. Not only have we built far too few units to keep up with demand over the past decade, but we are projected to build even fewer in the near term. Meanwhile, rents have exploded with inflation and lack of supply.

New York City gained more than 600,000 residents over the last 10 years, but added just 200,000 apartments. The pandemic made things worse. The Adams administration testified to the Council last week that new construction slowed so much that the city is projected to produce only 16,000 new units this year, when we should be creating at least 30,000 to prevent the city from falling even farther behind.

In other words, if you think the affordability and homeless crises are destructive now, you may not recognize our city in a year or two.

So now it is time to build like we have never built before. Of course, that new construction must include a lot of affordable housing and benefits for the neighborhoods they are in. But we can do all of that.

Here is how the builders of One45 are proposing to do it in Harlem: They will build 367 units of affordable housing — including 90 units of very and extremely low-income housing for households below 50% of area median income — which is 40% of the complex. Seventy units will also be set aside for union members as workforce housing. All of this is above and beyond what is required by current city rules.

The project would also include significant community benefits, including new retail space for local, MWBE commercial space, including new health-care facilities; community facility space for local nonprofits, including a brand new world headquarters for the National Action Network; and 60,000 square feet of office space for local businesses.

This project would also make long-term investments in our city’s resiliency and its young people. It would include New York City’s first Green Energy District — a geothermal energy system beneath the towers that would power nearby blocks — that could potentially remove more than 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually from our air; $7 million in improvements to the Brigadier General Young Playground; a fully-funded year-round youth empowerment, internship and apprenticeship initiative; and favorable or free rents space for community organizations.

We believe this project is exactly how to build New York’s future. Local Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan says it is not good enough. We respect her principles and opinions, but we are at the end of a very long public process that has led to significant changes to the project at the request of stakeholders.

So we are at a decision point. And the decision isn’t between this great project or a perfect one; it is between this project and no project. In fact, if it is not approved, the most likely fate of the site will be a storage facility.

In these turbulent times, facing such an unsure future, we cannot be a city of no. New Yorkers need projects like this. We are pleading with the Council to pass this one when it comes up for a vote next month — not just for Harlem, but for the city that needs saving.

If our city leaders say no to a project like One45, then they are that much closer to saying no to every project like it that could come after — and the affordable housing, jobs and community investments that will turn our city around.