Annemarie Gray, executive director of Open New York, a pro-housing policy organization, said that Northern New York is seeing particularly uneven development, where large expensive homes are being built on previously undisturbed land while multifamily projects slated for downtown areas of the state are actively discouraged because of the time and expense of the SEQR process.

“With a 1.4% vacancy rate, New Yorkers need more affordable housing, and fast,” said Annemarie Gray, Executive Director of Open New York. “We need to use every tool to speed up the creation of new homes, and the Neighborhood Builders Fast Track is a powerful new one. By cutting 8 months of process, affordable housing will get built faster, enabling more New Yorkers to access homes they can afford. We're excited to see the Mamdani Administration, Deputy Mayor Bozorg, and Commissioner Levy prioritize the fast delivery of more affordable housing."

Unlock NY, composed of pro-development groups the Regional Plan Association and Open New York, are circulating a research brief to officials in an effort to boost the issue in the state budget talks

Arriving at Open New York in 2022, Annemarie Gray quickly turned a lean advocacy shop into a central force in housing politics, scaling staff fivefold while helping advance the City of Yes zoning overhaul and championing various rezonings once considered untouchable. Gray, who recently served on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Housing Transition Committee, used her experience as a former City Hall land use adviser to lift the city’s decades-old floor area ratio cap and push ballot reforms that fast-track affordable housing approvals. Gray calls the status quo of restrictive zoning and underproduction of housing something that New Yorkers “can’t afford.”

The head of the pro-development group Open New York, Annemarie Gray, has appeared alongside the mayor at several events, including a recent rally in support of loosening the state’s environmental laws to make it easier to build.

“Actually making it possible and affordable for people to stay in New York is existential for the Democratic Party,” said Annemarie Gray, executive director of the pro-housing development group Open New York.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the “reactivation” of the Just Home supportive housing development at Jacobi Medical Center on Monday, bringing an end to years of controversy surrounding the project.

“Modernizing the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) is key to a future for New York with lower rents, lower utility bills, and real solutions to the climate crisis. With Governor Kathy Hochul’s call for reform in the State of the State address, New Yorkers move one step closer to a future that they can afford.”

On Monday, he appointed a diverse coalition of officials to assist with developing a housing policy as he transitions into Gracie Mansion. It included YIMBY voices like Open New York’s President Annemarie Gray, New York State Tenant Bloc leader Cea Weaver, and real estate interests like Real Estate Board of New York President Jed Walentas.

New Yorkers voted to approve several housing ballot questions as part of this year’s general election. After turning out in record numbers on Tuesday, voters elected Zohran Mamdani as the city’s next mayor and voted yes on four proposals aimed at redesigning the process for building more housing across the five boroughs, as the city faces a housing shortage and affordability crisis.

• You're not just electing a new mayor: New Yorkers will vote on how affordable housing is built in NYC

• Three proposals aim to speed up certain affordable developments and curb ‘hyperlocal perspectives’

Andrew Fine, the policy director of Open New York, the city’s most prominent YIMBY organization, told me that outgoing Mayor Adams’s relative success in getting housing built had much to do with the passage of a 2019 law that strengthened tenant protections. The law, Fine said, made progressive legislators more comfortable with pro-building policies.

New York City is living through its worst housing affordability crisis in a century. While the City and State distribute billions of dollars in housing subsidies each year, maintain the most robust rent-stabilization program in the nation and sustain a public housing system that is home to a population larger than many cities, almost all of the personal outcomes associated with housing here are terrible.

Adams’ Charter Revision Commission has proposed measures to accelerate affordable housing production in the parts of the city that have produced the least, a move that has drawn criticism from councilmembers and community boards.

Annemarie Gray, the executive director of Open New York, a nonprofit group that supports development, called the proposals “thoughtful and impactful.” She said her group will mobilize voters to help pass the measures in November.

Annemarie Gray, the executive director of Open New York, a nonprofit group that supports development, called the proposals “thoughtful and impactful.” She said her group will mobilize voters to help pass the measures in November.

Mayor Eric Adams and other city leaders painted the move as a win-win: the 123 affordable apartments will be shuffled to a nearby block and the garden will not be disturbed. (The senior housing development plan, dubbed Haven Green, also included plans for green space.)

Amid a housing crisis, Mayor Eric Adams made a signature push for more apartments, spearheading zoning changes as part of a goal to build half a million new homes, even over the objections of some local community leaders.

But the Adams administration on Monday nixed the long-planned development of 123 affordable apartments for seniors on city-owned land in Lower Manhattan, known as Haven Green, at the Elizabeth Street Garden in NoHo.

“Sometimes the YIMBY or abundance movements can feel abstract, especially in national races,” said Annemarie Gray, executive director of Open New York. “Local races — especially City Council races — is really where the rubber meets the road.”

The organization’s advocacy  arm is among the funders of the Abundant New York committee, which has spent more than $200,000 so far to influence five Council races in Manhattan, Brooklyn and The Bronx. 

“For the first time, we’re seeing every mayoral candidate recognize our housing shortage and include building more homes as part of their housing plan,” says Annemarie Gray, executive director of Open New York, a pro-housing advocacy group. “Four years ago it would have been inconceivable to see every mayoral platform across the spectrum feature strategies to build more homes, and faster.”