Cuomo who only moved into New York City in September 2024 after living in Westchester, a suburban community north of the city has promised to build over the next decade half a million new apartments, two-thirds of which will be affordable. The plan offers tax incentives to private developers to build more residential developments. It also says it will loosen zoning laws to promote office-to-residential conversions.
Dozens of organisations have signed an open letter calling on the government to scrap office-to-residential conversions in England, which analysis has found led to the loss of almost 28,000 affordable homes. Local government campaigners, housing providers and homelessness charities have all joined the call to abolish some permitted development rights (PDR), which grant automatic planning permission to building projects and are often used to convert office blocks into housing.