Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning to the BX. It is a pleasure to be out here on the track as the only mayor who has run a six-hour marathon to be here running very slowly, joined by members of my administration as well as advocates who have dedicated themselves to transforming our city's housing landscape as we hurdle over the obstacles to building affordable housing. I want to acknowledge our co-chairs of the SPEED Task Force. We have our Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg [and] our Deputy Mayor Julia Kerson. We have with us here as well, elected officials like Council Member Justin Sanchez, whose district we are proud to be in. We also want to acknowledge Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, as well as Majority Leader Shaun Abreu. And we have within our own administration, Commissioner Dina Levy, Director Sideya Sherman, Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani, Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura [and] Carlina Rivera, who has been leading the fight for affordable housing. And the host who is having us here today - if we can have a round of applause for University Heights High School with a 100 percent graduation rate, which is an incredible statistic.
Before I begin, though, I do also just want to say a huge shout-out to the entire task force team. This is work that took an immense amount of time and commitment, and we are truly appreciative of it. Now, in the iconic mid-90s action thriller "Speed," where Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock must keep a city bus moving faster than 50 miles an hour, Sandra Bullock's character says, "What, you thought you needed another challenge or something?" Ask any New Yorker that same question about housing, and their answer will be an immediate no.
Housing is the leading driver of our affordability crisis. The numbers, frankly, tell a grim tale. Our vacancy rate currently stands at just 1.4 percent, meaning only 1 in 70 rentals is available at any given time. For affordable homes, that number is even lower, and there are far too many hurdles preventing us from developing more affordable housing. Bureaucratic red tape, outdated technology [and] redundant processes that have accumulated over the decades.
We feel it when families cannot afford soaring rent payments [and] when our friends and neighbors are forced to leave this city after years of failing to make ends meet. Anyone working in this industry will tell you the same thing. The process of building [the] affordable housing we need to lower costs is too onerous and too slow, even given the incredible individuals who are helping us to build that affordable housing. Now, City Hall is committed to meeting this crisis with the urgency that it demands. On my first day in office, we signed an executive order creating the SPEED Task Force, led by Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg and Deputy Mayor for Operations Julia Kerson, and tasked it with uncovering the largest obstacles in the affordable housing development process.
Today, I am proud to release our city's first ever SPEED Report. It details four major issue areas and their corresponding reforms that, like the name implies, will streamline and accelerate the affordable housing development process. In some cases, these actions will cut as much as two years from the time that it takes to build. Every hurdler knows you do not stop when confronted with an obstacle, you jump over it. So, why should City Hall do any different? In case the metaphor about the affordability challenges our city faces and how we are overcoming them is not quite clear enough, let us refer to the very real hurdles that were before us today. First up, lengthy environmental review and planning. Second, lack of agency coordination. Third, slow building permits and approvals. Fourth, complicated housing lotteries and leasing processes that leave affordable apartments sitting empty.
We will address the first three issues by cutting duplicative red tape, streamlining communication and reducing the pre-certification process for many projects requiring zoning changes from two years to less than six months. This is a change made possible by Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie. We will also cut five months from the permitting timeline for both new construction and office-to-housing conversions. And we will undertake a comprehensive overhaul of our affordable housing lottery to deliver direct relief to New Yorkers who need access to affordable housing now.
By the end of 2026, we will simplify the application process and shorten the selection period, adjustments that will deliver relief to New Yorkers immediately while allowing us to build a more functional, flexible and fair system for the long term. Once this system is remade, we will cut the time it takes from the completion of a building to the day New Yorkers can move in, in half, from 210 days to fewer than 100 days.
This builds on the progress that City Hall has already made. In the last five months, we proposed New York City's first-ever Expedited Land Use Review Procedure [and] launched the Neighborhood Builders Fast Track program, both initiatives that will reduce the timelines for affordable housing projects by more than two years. We have started building affordable homes that will be not only affordable enough to rent but also affordable enough to buy. And yesterday, in my executive budget address, I announced that we are investing an additional $4 billion in HPD capital funds over the next five years, with an additional $500 million more in fiscal year 2031, to build and preserve affordable housing across the five boroughs.
We want to cut the ribbon on new housing, and we will do so by cutting the red tape that's in its way. That is what SPEED is all about: helping government deliver tangible solutions at the scale this crisis demands and at the speed New Yorkers deserve. Because we know that in this city, the most expensive city in the United States of America, time is money. And it is now our job to cut that time down to make it easier for New Yorkers to not just find new housing, but to move into it as well. With all that said, thank you very much, and I will pass it over to our Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning, Leila Bozorg.
Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg, Housing and Planning: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It is really wonderful to be here with such an amazing group of housing leaders from across our city. I want to thank in particular my co-chair of the SPEED Task Force, Deputy Mayor Julia Kerson, and her team, who have been a steadfast partner in this work. And I really want to thank the commissioners and agency staff, hundreds of agency staff participated in this process, who have joined us today, some have joined us today. All of this work would not have been possible without you and your ideas. And a huge thanks to the City Hall team who coordinated this process, especially Seth Bynum, Lily Richman, Rob Holbrook, huge shout out to you all; who had hundreds of conversations with builders, advocates, city staff [and] sorted through over 500 individual recommendations to land on the proposals that you see in the report that is released today.
We all know that New York City faces a dire housing crisis, and that's why our administration is pursuing an all-of-the-above approach to solving that crisis, because we have to use every tool at our disposal and interrogate every part of the process. These tools also include standing up to negligent landlords, like last week when we announced the largest penalty in HPD's history. It also means building housing that we need to address the root cause of our housing crisis. That includes every kind of housing: affordable housing, mixed-income housing, market-rate housing, thousand-unit projects like the one we see today at La Central across the street, backyard cottages and everything in between.
Delivering new affordable housing, of course, is not just about allowing it, but it's also about ensuring that buildings can move through our regulatory systems to actually get built. And that's why I'm really proud to stand with the mayor and all of you today to roll out the SPEED report. These reforms will deliver the public excellence that our administration has put front and center in our work, because government is not just about saying yes or no to things. It's also about delivering the things that we say we need and want.
I'm proud that as part of our budget, we've committed more than $14 million in additional funding in the upcoming fiscal year for staff at our agencies and technology improvements to actually facilitate these reforms. That's money that's going to help [the] Department of City Planning, Parks [and] Department of Transportation process environmental reviews on complicated projects and get simpler projects across the finish line in just six months. It's money that's going to help DEP, DOB, OTI and other agencies process permits more quickly and talk to each other more easily. And that's money that's going to help HPD move affordable housing projects through their own pipeline more quickly.
To develop these recommendations, we talked to experts across the city, including many of you who are here with us today. I'm really grateful for everyone's dedication and work to help us dig into the details of how housing gets approved and built. These reforms are truly comprehensive, covering everything from asbestos remediation to fire alarm inspections to the Housing Connect website. And as we put these changes into effect, the SPEED Task Force will continue meeting, because our work on this is not going to end with this single report. So, I'm really excited to continue this work with everyone here, because that's what public excellence looks like. And with that, I'm really proud to introduce someone who's been a steadfast champion for housing, especially in the Bronx, our borough president, Vanessa Gibson.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson: All right. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome. This is such a beautiful campus here at University Heights. I'm so proud to be here in the South Bronx. And as I begin, thank you, mayor, for acknowledging all of the incredible development that is happening right here in the South Bronx. So, shout out to all the construction team. We see you. Always shout out the construction teams. And you should know that La Central has not only opened up the YMCA, 50,000 square feet of recreation, but thousands of units of affordable housing right here in the South Bronx. This is why today's press conference matters so much. So, thank you once again to our mayor, Zohran Mamdani; to our co-chairs, Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg and Deputy Mayor Julia Kerson; to all of our commissioners who are here; city agencies and partners; my elected officials, Council Member Justin Sanchez of this district right here, and Majority Leader Sean Abreu; and everyone for being here today in the Bronx. Our borough continues to be at the center of the city's conversation around housing and affordability because our families and individuals are feeling the pressure of the affordability crisis every single day. Across our borough, many of our working-class families, our older adults, our young professionals, longtime residents [and] college graduates are struggling to find housing that is affordable, quality, accessible and stable. That is why today's announcement is important.
We cannot address the housing crisis with business as usual, with a one-size-fits-all approach. But we need urgency, action, attention, coordination and bold response. The SPEED Task Force represents just that. An effort to remove unnecessary delays, cut the red tape that often prevent the acceleration of affordable housing projects from moving forward efficiently. Far too often, these projects in our communities are slowed down by overlapping approvals, administrative hurdles and lengthy permitting processes. When affordable housing is delayed, families remain in shelters longer, neighborhoods lose opportunities for growth and cost continues to rise. Streamlining responsibility and development is not about cutting corners, but it's about creating a government that works more effectively for the people that we serve. Our borough has consistently stepped up to build housing for New Yorkers, especially right here in the South Bronx. But our communities must also see more investments that prioritize affordability, infrastructure and the quality of life, the job growth, creating more jobs and opportunities. So as development continues across the borough and across our city, we must ensure that residents are not pushed out of the neighborhoods that they helped to build. Housing that supports working-class families, older adults, veterans, young people, communities that have often been overlooked and middle-class families as well - and home ownership opportunities - which is super important for our administration.
We want to focus on identifying those opportunities for housing development and reducing delays as really a step forward meeting the scale of this crisis. We also understand the importance of using public land strategically and responsibly to create opportunities for affordable housing while preserving the needs of our community. Here in the Bronx, we know that development works best when communities are included in the process. And we believe in inclusivity, we believe in engagement and we believe in empowering our tenants. Community engagement, transparency and equity are central to every conversation around growth and development in this city. The Bronx leads and that's our message for 2026. And we want to continue in the fight for affordable housing and equitable development. And if you don't believe me, the DOT, "Welcome to the Bronx" signs, Mr. Mayor, with your name and my name, say: "Welcome to the Bronx, the Bronx leads." So once again, let's lead with conviction, with purpose, with intention, to lift up all New York families right here in the Bronx and across our city. Thank you all. And I also want to recognize my friend, Carlina Rivera, who represents NYSAFAH. We serve the City Council together. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Deputy Mayor Bozorg: Well, that's a great segue, because we now are going to hear from Carlina Rivera, who is now the president and CEO of NYSAFAH.
Carlina Rivera, President and CEO, NYSAFAH: Good morning, everyone. That was so - it's fun so far. I usually only run for the ice cream truck and the bus. But knowing that today's a big day for affordable housing reform and cutting red tape, certainly I'm excited to be here. My name is Carlina Rivera. I'm the president and CEO of NYSAFAH. I want to thank all of the illustrious public servants who are here and dedicated, [and] of course, my elected official friends and colleagues. NYSAFAH is an association of over 350 members that include developers and engineers, property managers, architects, lenders, all who produce 100 percent affordable housing. So, we have gone and had conversations with the team behind me, step by step, of our experiences and the processes to really make sure that we're streamlining them and improving them, so we can get more housing online faster. We're encouraged to see many of the recommendations our members brought directly to HPD, and the deputy mayor's team reflected in this report.
For far too long, affordable housing providers have been buried under overregulation and compliance mandates that drive up operating budgets with no added value. Redundant inspections, multiple agencies checking the same thing with no set timelines, no coordination, no accountability. And that changes today. And we are thankful. Every week, saved and approvals can be the difference between homes being built and preserved or not. We also hear stories like this one. I have many members here today.
One member, Fish Plate Development, had supportive units set aside for formerly homeless households. Layers of procedures and paperwork combined with a vulnerable and transient population makes filling units set aside for people living in shelter lengthy and daunting. The lease up involved HPD inspections, the division of tenant resources reviews and of course, a one-shot process that also added another month. One unit took over a year to fill, not because of repairs, but because the system couldn't connect shelters with those living in the shelter with those available apartments. Those units sat vacant, ready to become homes to our most vulnerable neighbors for all those months. And this administration knows that this is not acceptable. So, today, with many of our members present, we commend the administration for taking on these challenges and for partnering with our mission-driven industry. NYSAFAH looks forward to continuing our work with the mayor, HPD, and the deputy mayor's office to turn these recommendations into reality and to continue our collaboration for urgent reform. Thank you so much. Congratulations.
Question: The question I was going to ask you is about 5,200 households who receive federal emergency housing vouchers are about to lose their assistance. This is definitely housing-related, and I think relates to some of what the Speed Task Force is doing. It doesn't seem like that money is going to be in the state budget. Congress has no indication that they're going to re-up this money. So, what is the city going to do for these families?
Mayor Mamdani: We're exploring every avenue we can, and I think that you've put forward the context accurately, which is that we are a city that is facing the brunt of federal policies that are making it harder for working-class New Yorkers to afford to live in this city. Today's announcement is how we make it easier to build housing, to address the housing crisis at large. The point that you raise, however, is that in the face of those kinds of federal policies, New Yorkers are staring down a barrel of not being able to afford to live here. We're in conversations to explore everything that we can do in response to that.
Question: Well, who are you having the conversations with? So, you're not expanding the CityFHEPS program, which could be an avenue for people losing aid to get a new source of aid. What are those conversations? Who are you talking to, and what will you do when these people lose their assistance?
Mayor Mamdani: We're talking to our partners at the state level. It is difficult, given that the fact that the federal administration - this is a policy that they have embarked upon, and when it comes down to CityFHEPS, we continue to be in conversation with our partners at the City Council around the question of the expansion of that program. Yesterday, we spoke about how we're going to safeguard and steward the program as it exists today.
Question: So, good morning. Every speaker so far talked about the redundancy, the overlap on applications, and one agency doesn't see the other. What exactly is going to be done to eliminate that? And that's the first question. Second question is, are you concerned with making the construction quicker that it's really going to cut corners on the type, level and quality of the construction?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I want to be very clear that we are fully confident in the quality of the construction that will move forward. What we are speaking about today is cutting the pre-certification timelines - the amount of time that developers have to wait for someone to come, perhaps from multiple agencies, as we heard, to perform the very same inspection. And so, what I really appreciate about both of my deputy mayors to my left is that they convened a task force that asked every conceivable actor in this sector to provide their feedback of: what has not been working when you engage with the city? What are the pain points? Because you can have disagreements with developers and construction, the many different factors that go into the price point. One thing that I will always say is - I can't find somebody in New York City who is in favor of more delays when it comes to affordable housing, especially when that's within the city's control. So, we want to make sure that we're exhausting every single possibility.
I want to just go through a few examples. When we add additional staff, like we have done in this executive budget, what that allows us to do is speed up the times in responding to these applications. When we are looking at the housing lottery, just in terms of the mechanics, we can cut the time in half that it takes for someone to move into a house. And you know, the final piece here is - and I think you heard this from Deputy Mayor Bozorg - this is a long-term commitment. We are going to have this task force to continue to make recommendations, because I never want to hear from someone that City Hall could have been doing more to create more housing in this city when housing is the number one crisis facing New Yorkers.
Question: How do you ensure - so the executive budget included the elimination of vacant positions, in addition to the new staff positions that you just mentioned - how do you ensure that the reduction in those vacancies doesn't eat into the progress you're making with SPEED? Because obviously getting rid of positions also can affect the timing of permits and approvals and all of that.
Mayor Mamdani: Absolutely. We wanted this to be an intentional process where we create the positions needed for the efficacy of this program. I'm just going to pass it over to our Deputy Mayor to add some additional details.
Deputy Mayor Bozorg: So, that's a great question. In the savings that you saw in the budget, some of that was coming from eliminating vacancies. And then we did this very surgical approach, especially in this initiative, of looking at - to advance these proposals and to cut the time at these steps. And remember, we looked at the entire process from environmental review to pre-development and financing to the permitting approval process to marketing and lease up. At every step, we looked at the processes, and we looked at the capacity of staff to actually implement those processes. So, in many cases, we were eliminating steps. But in many cases, things are actually working well, and staff are overburdened with the types of reviews they have to do and get through. So, it was really about making sure we are giving up vacancies where we can take those savings but then adding back and letting agencies hire new staff where it's really going to make a big impact. And so overall, it's about 96 new heads through this initiative that we're enabling.
Mayor Mamdani: I'll just add one more thing to what the deputy mayor said, is that our administration firmly believes that the public sector should be given the opportunity to deliver public excellence. And so, so many of the questions we've asked ourselves is, what kind of investment is necessary so that we can hold ourselves to that standard of excellence? Because you heard from the borough president. We see New Yorkers doing everything in their power to help us build our way out of this housing crisis. You can see a number of those New Yorkers right here. It is time that they receive the same kind of commitment from City Hall that they're seeing from themselves and the workers around them. That's what we're looking forward to doing.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: So, I'm wondering, there's been a group that's been formed to sort of combat your agenda. I think they've got a couple million dollars already in that group. And I'm wondering what you think about that effort, and also about the comments of Jim Walden, who made some remarks regarding how you would handle a terrorist attack in the city.
Mayor Mamdani: What did he say?
Question: I believe he said that you would be rooting for the terrorists.
Mayor Mamdani: I think that's just despicable. The idea that this passes for political analysis - not you, but what he says - and that it passes for the norm of discourse, it is a reflection of where we are, not just as a city, but as a country. And there will be those that oppose policies that we put forward. I don't begrudge anyone their opposition. It's New York City. There are 8.5 million people here. We should see 8.5 million opinions. But to besmirch me as the first Muslim mayor of this city, that I would ever be doing anything other than looking to support our city, to defend our city, I really don't have anything else to add to that. And I think it's a reflection of exactly what motivates that kind of opposition.
Question: Thank you. My second question is, your administration recently ended the NYCEM alerts to independent schools that was created after the September 11 terrorist attacks, because independent schools were out of the loop at that time. The reason given was that you need to focus on the World Cup and the 250 anniversary celebrations, which have left a lot of parents concerned that independent schools will not be notified in cases of emergency. So, I'm wondering if you can explain why that was eliminated, and do you have future plans for that program?
Mayor Mamdani: I'll follow up on that. Thank you for raising that.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: My colleague at New York 1 published a two-part series concerning schools, that there was a private company that makes anti-choking devices that clears airways, and city lawmakers passed a mandate that every school should have one. And there was questions about its efficacy and how it would replace the Heimlich maneuver and etc. It's a good report. But there is a mandate for schools to have this device. Has it gone into effect yet? Do you support the mandate? And what are your thoughts on making sure every school has such a device?
Mayor Mamdani: I support any initiative that will keep our students safe. And I think that this is part of exactly that kind of a vision of how we can ensure that each and every day when a parent sends their child to school, they don't have to worry about what their child is going to have to go through. I think this is one of the ways in which we can deliver that.
Question: Mr. Mayor, in your budget yesterday, you allocated a lot of money for your committee to combat hate.
Mayor Mamdani: Yes.
Question: And I'm wondering, given this post, which is clearly hate, if this is the kind of thing that your office to combat hate should be looking at, because I think that you take a look at the number of hate crimes in the city, they're skyrocketing. And whether it's, you know, antisemitism, Islamophobia or whatever, it's still hate. And is there anything that your office to combat hate can do to stop this kind of discourse in the city?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I would say that as despicable as I find Jim Walden's views, they are also part of political speech that I'm not looking to infringe upon. You know, when people protest me, I can disagree with the protest and still believe that they should have the right to do so. When it comes to acts of hatred across the city, as you have said, we have seen the continued rise of those acts. And yesterday, we made clear that we were investing more than $26 million to increase the funding into hate crime prevention programs, [more] than 800 percent. And the importance of that, for me, comes from the fact that too often our only response to a hate crime is exactly that - it's a response. It's being there on the ground. It's showing New Yorkers that we see them, we recognize them, that we want to hold anyone who did something to them accountable. We also want to be investing in the prevention work. And so, these programs that this money goes into are ones that have been found to be effective. A lot of them are also focused on our youth across the city to ensure that we are teaching our young children across the city what it means to be a New Yorker. And a key part of that is to understand that difference is a part of life. It's what makes us such a special city. It's not something to be feared.
Question: So, if you could talk directly to Jim Walden, what would you say today?
Mayor Mamdani: Get off Twitter.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: Did you disable the SRG? Did you disable the SRG? I know they weren't deployed, as far as I know, in Midwood. Was that a result of your decision to rein in their use? And also, was the permit-
Mayor Mamdani: I'll answer the first-
Question: Did that allow them that they had to protest? Were they allowed to go through the streets? Was that always the plan? And was this the result of not having the SRG there?
Mayor Mamdani: I've made clear about my belief on the SRG. The SRG, as it currently stands, is an active part of the NYPD, and I'm working with the police commissioner to end the SRG in a manner that both keeps New Yorkers safe and protects their First Amendment rights.
